EC sets hearing date over Google book deal

 

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By Reuters

Posted on 20 Jul 2009 at 16:57

The EC will hold a hearing on 7 September, as it assesses what impact Google's plan to publish millions of books online will have on European writers' rights.

The EC confirmed in May that it would study Google's book deal after Germany complained the company had scanned books from US libraries without the prior consent of European rights holders. The complaint was backed by Britain and France.

In a deal with the Authors Guild and the Association of American publishers last October, Google agreed to pay $125 million to create a Book Rights Registry, where authors and publishers can register works and be compensated from institutional subscriptions or book sales.

The deal, which still requires court approval, would also affect European authors published in America though they can opt out of the deal.

"Google's actions are irreconcilable with the principles of European copyright law, according to which the consent of the author must be obtained before his or her works may be reproduced or made publicly available on the Internet," the German appeal notes.

Google says it is happy to engage to any constructive dialogue on the future of books and copyright: "We will now have a welcome opportunity to explain to the European Commission how authors, publishers and Google have agreed to move forward in the United States."

The US Justice Department is also looking into the settlement.