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Add another name to the list of opponents of the Google Book Search Settlement: Marybeth Peters, U.S. Register of Copyrights. In testimony before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Thursday, Peters tarred the deal as “fundamentally at odds with the law” and villainized Google, saying the company is making a “mockery” of the copyright protections in the U.S. Constitution.

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In advance of its shareholder meeting today, Google is holding a press event at its Mountain View, Calif., campus with CEO Eric Schmidt presiding. Also on hand: Dave Drummond, senior vice president of corporate development; Susan Wojcicki, vice president for product management, and Marissa Mayer, vice president, search products and user experience. Hot topics of the day: Google’s and Apple’s interlocking boards, YouTube and the company’s thoughts on the econalypse, AOL and netbooks.

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In September 2006, a three-minute video featuring a group of teenagers harassing a boy with Down Syndrome was posted to Google Video Italia. Notified of it presence, Google quickly removed the video. But not quickly enough. The clip was viewed some 12,000 times before it was pulled. Enough times to inspire a two-year investigation and now, the trial of four Google executives on criminal charges of defamation and breach of privacy. Talk about blaming the tool for the way it is used….

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Now that Google’s scrapped its proposed advertising deal with Yahoo, the company’s chief legal counsel David Drummond should have plenty of time to devote to Google’s latest legal annoyance: charges of defamation abroad.

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Apparently Google would rather abandon its proposed advertising partnership with Yahoo than have the government dictate its terms. This morning Google walked away from the deal saying it’s not in the company’s best interests to risk the protracted legal battle brewing over it. This, not a week after Google and Yahoo submitted a revised, diminished version of the pact that the companies had hoped would appease regulators. Seems Google wasn’t quite as committed to working with Yahoo as CEO Eric Schmidt suggested.

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Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond says the company’s proposed search advertising partnership with Yahoo won’t increase Google’s share of search traffic. But no one appears to be taking him at his word. The World Association of Newspapers said Monday that it opposes the deal, adding its name to a growing list of critics that now includes not just Microsoft, but the Association of National Advertisers and European Union as well.

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“Microsoft’s hostile bid for Yahoo raises troubling questions,” Google chief legal officer David Drummond wrote back in February.

Troubling indeed. Almost as troubling as the questions raised by Google’s partnership with Yahoo, as Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft’s Platforms and Services Division, pointed out during a panel discussion at the Cannes Debate today.

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