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Two weeks ago, in response to a September 23rd request by authors and publishers, Judge Denny Chin delayed an October hearing scheduled to address the dispute over the settlement between Google and the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers.

According to the New York judge, the authors and publishers groups are expected to make "significant changes to the current settlement agreement." As a result, Judge Chin decided that holding the scheduled hearing would not be necessary.

The Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers are both plaintiffs in a four-year-old class-action suit against Google for their efforts to digitize out-of-print written works—efforts that authors and publishers argue are in violation of copyright laws. The groups have said that they need more time to review concerns raised by the U.S. Justice Department in a brief filed on September 25th.

That DOJ brief detailed several anti-trust and copyright issues related to the case, which the Justice Department has been investigating since earlier this year. The brief acknowledged the benefits of having an online library of digital books, but also warned against quick court action due to the number of complaints about the legal ramifications for the Google settlement.

Google has sought the digitization of millions of books, including what are known as "orphan" works—works that have no clear copyright holder, or whose copyright holder cannot be found by Google. This has alarmed many consumer groups who worry that the company would have too much control over orphaned works, and be immune from suits brought by owners of orphaned works—as per the current settlement agreement.

A status hearing—at which the court will discuss moving forward with the settlement—is scheduled for October 7th.

We're following the Google Books case closely and will be bringing you any additional information as it becomes available.