Three major French publishers are reportedly filing lawsuits against Internet search services provider, Google, Inc., US, for the illegal scanning of their catalogues. This was announced by Antoine Gallimard, CEO of French publisher Gallimard, at the Paris Book Fair, media reports have indicated. The move follows extended efforts by Gallimard to stop the scanning.
Google has digitised and made publicly available parts of at least 12 million literary works, many of which are under copyright, it has been reported. According to Gallimard, Google has continued to post its works despite requests to stop. Gallimard will be joined in its action against Google by Flammarion, Eyrolles and Albin Michel.
In 2006, Gallimard was the first French publisher to demand that Google withdraw its titles. After a gap of six months, Google restarted scanning Gallimard titles and has continued ever since.
Digitisation has become a controversial issue and has stirred debate over the sensitive issue of defending cultural and intellectual property. French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand will discuss the issue during a planned trip to Google's California headquarters in July. He's not the first French politician to take on Google. President Sarkozy reacted negatively to GBS 2.0 - the revised version of the Google Books Settlement - in December, stating he would block Google from digitising 'France's heritage'.
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