At noon on Wednesday, September 23, the Copyright Clearance Center will host the sixth installment in its online informational seminar on the Google Book Search Settlement, including a discussion of the recent Department of Justice brief and its implications going forward. The seminar will feature copyright law and policy attorney Lois Wasoff, who will discuss next possible steps in the settlement process, as well help to make sense of the briefs filed for and against the settlement thus far.

In an interview with PW yesterday, Wasoff made a number of key observations about the DoJ filing—including that the brief not only represents the preliminary findings of an ongoing investigation by the DoJ into antitrust issues, as was expected, but the views of the U.S. Government regarding the deal’s legality. "The names on the brief are the Department of Justice and U.S Attorney for the Southern District of New York," Wasoff pointed out. "This is the government's position." Wasoff will discuss the areas of objection filed so far, as well the DoJ's brief and what might happen next.

While the DoJ brief recommended the court reject the settlement, it wasn't all bad news for the parties, she noted. “The brief is very constructive,” Wasoff told PW. “It’s not a bashing brief. It is not advocating a position as much as it is analyzing a situation. It doesn’t leave the parties without a path.” Whether that path is one the parties wish to pursue, she notes, may be another matter.

To join the discussion, register here.