GOOGLE FACED increased global resistance yesterday to its plan to digitise books when a Parisi court ruled that the internet group had violated the copyright of authors and publishers by scanning French books held in US libraries without consent.
The court ordered the group to stop scanning without prior authorisation titles published by La Martinière, the company that brought the case, and instructed it to pay €300,000 in damages and interest – far less than the €15 million fine sought by plaintiffs. Google said it would appeal.
The case is the first time that Google’s ambitious scheme to scan in-copyright but out-of-print books held in US libraries – including foreign works – has been deemed illegal by a court.
Google last year reached a settlement with US publishers, but this is still under legal review.
“It is a great victory that shows that you can’t just pirate other people’s books,” said Serge Eyrolles, head of SNE, the French publishers’ association.
The publishing houses accused Google of not adequately compensating the creators and original publishers of the scanned works.
A Chinese court will this month hear a similar case brought by a Chinese author.
But the Paris ruling could prove a Pyrrhic victory for publishers if Google simply terminates the scanning of foreign titles and destroys the electronic versions it has amassed, removing French writing from what is likely to become the dominant online book search facility. “French readers now face the threat of losing access to a significant body of knowledge and falling behind the rest of internet users,” said Philippe Colombet, head of Google Books France.
French publishers concede they need to work with Google, but want it to negotiate terms. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009)
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