• Reuters, Thursday, June 2, 2011 11:24 AM

Will Google ever get its digital library? Well, the search giant still hasn't agreed with authors and publishers on a legal arrangement, while the federal judge who struck down an earlier accord just gave it another seven weeks to try.

"The issues are complicated," Circuit Judge Denny Chin said in Manhattan federal court this week, according to Reuters. Citing antitrust and copyright concerns, Chin rejected a $125 million settlement in March, saying it went "too far" in allowing Google to exploit digitized copyrighted works by selling subscriptions to them online and engage in "wholesale copying of copyrighted works without permission."

Going forward, "The parties are still considering what options are available," and everything "is on the table," said Bruce Keller, a partner at Debevoise & Plimpton, who represents publishers in the settlement. As of March, Google said it had so far scanned about 12 million books for its library, with which it hopes to increase access to materials for readers and researchers.

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