From WNYC in New York, this is NPR's On the Media.

I'm Brooke.

And I'm Bob.

What?

Brooke?

Oops, sorry.

I forgot to turn off my phone.

All right.

I know you really have the Star Trek theme on your phone, but we staged this little bit to make a point.

The rocky ringtone came up a few years ago in our conversation with a documentary film

director who had to pay thousands of dollars to use it when a cell phone rang in a scene

that she could not cut.

Many argued that such cultural artifacts should be covered by fair use,

a clause in copyright law that allows for limited use of copyrighted material. But filmmakers

continue to pay licensing fees for all sorts of ridiculous things. The print world relies on

fair use. An author doesn't think twice about quoting from another

book, but Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig says the settlement between Google Books,

the Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild could carry the crazy licensing

practices of films into the print world. On Thursday, all eyes were on a federal judge

in New York City who was expected to rule on the settlement, but he said he couldn't because, quote,

there's just too much to digest. No kidding. Opposing the Google Book settlement are big companies

like Microsoft and Sony and big countries like France and Germany,

...