Internet search services provider Google, Inc., US, is facing growing opposition in Europe to its legal settlement in the US with book publishers and authors, media reports have indicated. This is expected to create a fresh challenge to a deal that could help determine the future structure of the digital books business.
While limited only to book rights in the US, the proposed settlement, which is awaiting court approval, has aroused concern among European publishers. These publishers fear they will lose some of their rights to millions of European works held in university libraries in the US, which have been drawn into Google's book-scanning project. Under the US legal deal, unless copyright holders opt out of the arrangement, large segments of the works will be displayed by Google to US-based Internet users, while access to readers in Europe and elsewhere are blocked.
There has been strong opposition to the terms, which are the same as those applying to copyright holders based in the US, from publishers in Germany. This comes ahead of a US court hearing in early October to determine whether to formalise the settlement. Syndicat National de l'Edition, the French publishers' association, said the settlement would be particularly unfavourable to non-US publishers, given that all out-of-print titles would be automatically included in Google's digital library unless copyright holders opted out.
Google countered that its book search service complies with international copyright laws and that it is in no case calling into question the copyright of authors and publishers outside of the US. The company is likely to face more opposition when a lawsuit brought by French publishers goes to trial next month.
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