Major development in the Google Book Settlement case (remember the Google Book Settlement case?): Late Thursday the U.S. Department of Justice filed a legal brief with the federal judge overseeing the case, Denny Chin, that “expressed concerns” about the revised legal settlement put together in response to the DOJ’s previous objections.

A Wall Street Journal report quotes the 26-page brief saying “many of the problems previously identified with respect to the original settlement remain.” Essentially, says the WSJ report, “Google, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers were still trying to reach too broadly with their proposed class-action settlement.”

Says the report itself: The revised settlement “suffers from the same core problem as the original agreement: it is an attempt to use the class action mechanism to implement forward-looking business arrangements that go far beyond the dispute … in this litigation.”

In response, Google, the Authors Guild and the AAP issued a somewhat mystifying statement saying the DOJ brief “recognizes the progress made with the revised settlement, and it once again reinforces the value the agreement can provide in unlocking access to millions of books in the U.S.”

Judge Chin will decide whether to approve the settlement after a Feb. 18 “fairness hearing” on the agreement.

A senior Justice Department official, “speaking Thursday on background,” insists to the paper, “We’re encouraging the court not to approve it now.”