And now here comes Marybeth Peters of the US Copyright Office riding to our aid, in her testimony to the House Judiciary Committee today:

‘In the view of the Copyright Office, the settlement proposed by the parties would encroach on responsibility for copyright policy that traditionally has been the domain of Congress. The settlement is not merely a compromise of existing claims, or an agreement to compensate past copying and snippet display. Rather, it could affect the exclusive rights of millions of copyright owners, in the United States and abroad, with respect to their abilities to control new products and new markets, for years and years to come. We are greatly concerned by the parties’ end run around legislative process and prerogatives, and we submit that this Committee should be equally concerned.’

See http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/pdf/Peters090910.pdf