"This opinion reads like a microcosm of all the big problems facing Google," said Gary Reback, a Silicon Valley lawyer who represented a group led by Google rivals Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. to oppose the digital-book settlement.
Google can only hope that some of the points that Chin raised don't become recurring themes.
The company is still trying to persuade the U.S. Justice Department to approve a $700 million purchase of airline-fare tracker ITA Software nearly nine months after it was announced. Regulators are focusing on whether ITA would give Google the leverage to create an unfair advantage over other online travel services. Google argues it will be able to provide more bargains and convenience for travelers if it's cleared to own ITA's technology.
In Europe and the state of Texas, antitrust regulators are looking into complaints about Google abusing its dominance of Internet search to promote its own services unfairly and drive up its advertising prices.
And Google is still trying fend off an appeal in another high-profile copyright case, one stemming from its 2006 acquisition of YouTube, the Internet's leading video site. Viacom Inc. is seeking more than $1 billion in damages after charging YouTube with misusing clips from Comedy Central, MTV and other Viacom channels. A federal judge sided with Google, saying YouTube had done enough to comply with digital copyright laws in its early days.
Viacom is trying to reverse that decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York, where Chin works.
"Google has built a monopoly in search, and having a monopoly isn't necessarily illegal," said John Simpson, a frequent Google critic who has followed its business practices for the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog. "The question is, once you are in a monopoly position, how do you use it? I think Google has repeatedly abused it, and that comes out in this decision."
Google has been muted in its reaction to Chin's ruling.
"This is clearly disappointing, but we'll review the court's decision and consider our options," Google managing counsel Hilary Ware said in a statement.
Although he applauded the digital-book concept, Chin concluded Google had approached it the wrong way.
The judge chastised Google for "engaging in wholesale, blatant copying without first obtaining copyright permissions."
