A New York judge has set a November deadline for the submission of a new settlement between Google and a group of authors and publishers, the latter of which sued Google over its attempt to obtain digital rights to millions of books.

The original settlement between the parties was met with major scrutiny from authors, libraries, and privacy advocates who all claimed that the deal was unfair, prompting the U.S. Department of Justice to step in. A hearing on whether to approve proposed settlement was to take place on Wednesday, but was postponed when the two sides asked for more time to hash out a new deal.

Judge Deny Chin has ordered the parties to submit their revised settlement by November 9, with an approval hearing to take place sometime after. This marks the second time the settlement has been delayed since the original agreement was signed last October.

Talk about tough luck for Uniloc, who sued Microsoft for patent infringement and was awarded an unprecedented $388 million verdict by a jury in April. But Microsoft won't have to pay Uniloc a dime, as Judge William Smith of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island overturned the ruling this week, clearing Microsoft of any wrong doing.

"We are pleased that the court has vacated the jury verdict and entered judgment in favor of Microsoft," spokesman Kevin Kutz said Tuesday.

First filed six years ago, Irvine, California-based Unloc USA and Singapore-based parent company accused Microsoft of using its patented technology for software activation. Specifically, the companies laid claimed to the use of a software activation key to keep users from installing licensed software on multiple PCs

After more than four years of litigation, it looks like AMD and Intel are likely to reach a settlement before the civil case between the chip makers comes to court in 2010.

The original filing dates back to June 2005, during which time AMD sued Intel in a Delaware district court alleging all kinds of anti-competitive business practices and other tomfoolery. If found guilty, Intel could potentially be fined around $9 billion, TGDaily reports. To put that into perspective, building two fabs would only cost half as much.

Intel could also be fined much less, and the longer this drags on, the more resources both sides have to throw at lawyers rather than concentrating on building chips. For this reason, TGDaily reports sources close to both companies say the case will never make it to trial as the two sides are likely to settle. The amount and terms of the potential settlement aren't known, and probably never will be, but either way, you can score this as a win for AMD.