Axis of Hatred to Join Open Book Alliance in Effort to Derail Google's Book Rights Registry

Adding a little commentary to Mark Giangrande's LLB post, Microsoft, Yahoo, Amazon to Oppose Google Book Settlement, the story is that former Bush speechwriter David Frum originally coined the phrase "axis of hatred" before it morphed into the "axis of evil" to describe Iran, Iraq and North Korea as governments supporting terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction in Bush's rationalization for the War of Terror. "Evil" is just a wee bit too sacrilegious for warmongering and, since the Google Book Settlement certainly isn't a technical violation or profanation of anything sacred though some opponents might think so, the original phrase seems more appropriate to describe Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo joining the Open Book Alliance to derail Google's Book Rights Registry. Here's two companies, Microsoft and Yahoo, that probably would do what Google is trying to do if they hadn't been muscled out by Google's market presence and one company, Amazon, which sees the Settlement as a threat to its Kindled universe, joining forces with Special Libraries Association, the New York Library Association and the American Society of Journalists and Authors to fight the anticompetitive consequences of the Settlement.

Peter Brantley, co-founder of the Internet Archive and a director of the Open Book Alliance, reportedly will disclose the members of the coalition in the next couple of weeks but the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, BBC, etc., are already reporting that this commercial axis of hatred of Google's Book Rights Registry is on-board. According to published accounts, the coalition is co-led by Gary Reback, a lawyer involved in the DOJ's antitrust investigation against Microsoft Corp. last decade. How ironic. Also according to published reports, Open Book Alliance members will most likely file objections to the Settlement with the court independently. A good thing, I think. I wouldn't want to be the attorney assigned to drafting objections co-signed by Amazon and library associations. See Mark's post for more.[JH]