Court Extends Time to Opt Out of Google Settlement by Four Months

April 28, 2009. The court overseeing Authors Guild v. Google extended the time for authors and publishers to opt out of the settlement by four months, to September 4th (Judge Chin’s order). The fairness hearing will be on October 7th. We don’t recommend opting out — this settlement is a good deal for authors, bringing their out-of-print books back to commercial life (while leaving the marketplace for in-print books alone, unless you and your publisher want to take advantage of the settlement’s programs for in-print books) — so this shouldn’t affect most authors. If you haven’t yet filed your claim, now is a fine time to do so. Go to googlebooksettlement.com and create an account to get started.