SEC, DOJ Announce $95 Million Settlement In Bribery Actions Against Deutsche Telekom, Hungarian Unit

Magyar Telekom, Hungary’s largest telecommunications provider, and majority owner Deutsche Telekom agreed to pay over $95 million to settle charges that they bribed government and political party officials in Macedonia and Montenegro, the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission announced Dec. 29…

District Court Rejects Proposed Settlement of Class Action Against Google Book Search

The terms of a proposed $125 million settlement of class action claims brought by groups of authors and publishers against Google Inc. were not “fair, adequate, and reasonable” with respect to the rights of members of the relevant class not represented by the parties, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled March 22…

Proposed Google Book Settlement Violates International Standards, Could Lead to Trade Sanctions, Analysis Says

The proposed Google Book Search settlement would violate copyright provisions in the Berne Convention and principles of nondiscrimination in the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on…

Visual Artists Groups File Class Action Against Google for Digitizing Books

A group of visual artists associations and interest groups filed a class-action lawsuit against Google Inc. April 7 that is similar to an action filed by the Authors Guild and…

Supreme Court Decision in Muchnick Case Leaves Some Issues to Be Resolved by District Courts

The Supreme Court’s recent ruling that the inclusion of authors of unregistered works in a settlement of a class action copyright proceeding does not prevent a federal court from exercising jurisdiction leaves some unanswered questions that federal district courts will have to address in the future, according to participants in a March 22 panel discussion presented by Law Seminars International of Seattle.

Justice Department’s Antitrust Division Calls for Putting Brakes on Proposed Google Book Search Settlement

Certain provisions of a proposed settlement of a dispute between Google Inc. and associations of authors and publishers “exceed the proper bounds of a class action settlement,” according to…