Google Books deal postponed after avalanche of criticism

The judge overseeing Google’s controversial agreement with American publishers to digitise millions of books has delayed a hearing into the $125m deal - effectively shutting down the settlement and sending it back to the drawing board.

“The current settlement agreement raises significant issues, as demonstrated not only by the number of objections, but also by the fact that the objectors include countries, states, non-profit organisations and prominent authors and law professors. Clearly fair concerns have been raised,” he wrote in a two-page order.

“We’ll continue to work on amending the settlement to address the Justice Department’s concerns,” it said in a statement on its website. Read more at www.guardian.co.uk