The French Publishers Association (Syndicat National de l'Edition, SNE), has endorsed about 10 pages of objections to the second draft of a settlement between Google and American publishers and authors.
The objections, to be sent to Judge Denny Chin before January 28, are reportedly different from those of the first draft agreement. Some French publishers will also send their own individual objections. The first draft of the Settlement was discarded after the US Department of Justice raised objections to it.
SNE representatives have stated that new legislation would be required to extend France's fixed book price Lang Law, 1981, to digital books. While the Competition Authority has recently said that regulating a non-existent market is uncalled for, SNE members have expressed hope that the government would expedite the issue.
Google reached the settlement in 2008 with authors and publishers, over a copyright infringement suit they filed against the search services company in 2005. Under the settlement, Google agreed to pay $125 million to resolve outstanding claims and establish an independent Book Rights Registry. The registry provides revenue from sales and advertising to authors and publishers who agree to digitise their books.
Publishers and authors have been upset with Google posting extracts of their books online without fairly compensating them. In December 2009, a French court ordered Google to pay more than €300,000 in damages and interest and to stop digital reproduction of the material. As part of the ruling, the company was also ordered to pay €10,000 a day in fines until it removes extracts of some French books from its online database.
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