Judge Chin of the US District Court (Southern District of New York) has rejected the Google Books Settlement.  See the decision. 

Kenneth Crews, founding director of the Copyright Advisory Office at Columbia University, summarizes the decision.  He concludes by asking, "What is next?" and answers as follows:

"The parties may accept the invitation to convert the proposal to “opt in,” but that would undercut the ability to include orphan works in the database. The parties could abandon the settlement and return to litigation, but that choice is fraught with expense, delay, and risks. The parties could appeal to the Second Circuit. With so much invested to date, an appeal poses comparatively modest costs and few downsides. The more difficult prediction, however, is whether Congress will take up the court’s challenge and whether it is capable of crafting legislation on this thorny subject that might actually serve the interests of authors, publishers, online services, libraries, and the public."

Stay tuned for commentary by one of our IPilogue Editors and further analysis by a guest blogger.