[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by RSE

Google's answer is a bad answer. Only the current situation is a worse one...

Well, I think I can agree with that. However I don't think the Google settlement is the only achievable option, nor does it conform to existing copyright law. It's not the job of a class action lawsuit to generate legislation.

Originally Posted by RSE

As Google pointed out, this is a non-exclusive deal. The same deal can be made by other companies. That doesn't sound like a monopoly to me.

You don't need legal exclusivity in order to establish or maintain a monopoly.

However, the Settlement option does give Google several potentially unfair advantages, including delays in crafting similar agreements and granting the Author's Guild et al a de facto "gatekeeper" role. I can easily imagine that Amazon tries to set up a similar agreement and add TTS rights, only to be told by the AG to take a flying leap.

Originally Posted by RSE

The whole rationale of Google's project was to make available (and preserve) out-of-print works.

Google is not a charity or a non-profit, and as such this is only part of their rationale. Other reasons include generating revenue and cementing their role as the premiere (if not monopolistic) digital search resource.

Originally Posted by RSE

If the US government hadn't been lobbied by Hollywood to prevent anything further from falling into the public domain in 1976, it would be a moot point.... But this problem is a direct result of Hollywood's successful lobbying, 56 years has become up to 140+ years, with the only guarantee is that in another 5-8 years, Hollywood will try to stretch it further.

1) This line of logic does not explain why many nations, which afaik were not lobbied by Hollywood, have similarly long copyright terms (e.g. life + 50 or 70 years).
2) Although life + 70 is fairly long, a truly indefinite term is a clear violation of the US Constitution; and the most recent extensions were reviewed with this in mind. I.e. I seriously doubt another extension to life + 90 would be considered viable, unless life expectancy increases from 70 to 100.
3) Many of the books Google has scanned would not fall into PD any time soon. Lots of the authors are still alive and kicking.
4) The result of Google's actions will not be even remotely equivalent to putting a book into PD. They will just be more widely available in a commercialized context. You still have to pay to access the books, and cannot reproduce or sell one of Google's scanned books without paying for it.