D-Day for Google Books Today (Not Really)

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In case anyone imagined that federal judge Denny Chin was planning to rule on Google's (GOOG) proposed Google Book Search settlement with the Author's Guild and the Association of American Publishers, Chin put that to rest in a couple of minutes.

"I'm going to say right off the bat, I'm not going to rule today," Chin declared at the outset of the hearing in Manhattan. "I'm going to listen to opinions carefully, and I'm going to ask a few questions."

To which we can only add: Did anyone really think otherwise? The case is far too complex for anyone to render a snap judgment. Even if Chin already knows the gist of the arguments (and how could he not given the ink spilled on this issue?), he at least has to pretend to nod his head sagely and retreat behind closed doors to give it a big think.

That said, the army of parties lined up to oppose the settlement was impressive. It includes Microsoft (MSFT); Amazon (AMZN); AT&T (T); the Electronic Frontier Foundation; the National Federation of the Blind (can't wait to hear its argument!); and authors from Germany, Japan, and New Zealand. On the other hand, Dow Jones reports that Sony (SNE) came out in favor of the settlement, arguing that it would offer a "substantial benefit" to the electronic books industry.

Stay tuned for the ruling—whenever that may be.