[A2k] James Kanter: Europe Seeks to Ease Rules for Putting Books Online

[Manon Ress]

Europe Seeks to Ease Rules for Putting Books Online
By JAMES KANTER
Published: August 27, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/technology/internet/28books.html?_r=3D1

BRUSSELS =97 The European Commission on Friday will propose drafting
rules that would make it easier to put many books and manuscripts
online. The move is a part of the commission=92s effort to bolster
access to information and to encourage online businesses.

The changes would be aimed at allowing Internet users to access out-of-
print works and so-called orphan works for which it is impossible or
very difficult to trace the rights holders, said Viviane Reding, the
European Union commissioner who oversees the Internet.

Any new rules eventually proposed by Ms. Reding could also make it
easier to acquire a single digital copyright covering the European
Union, rather than having to deal with agencies in each of its member
states.

European Commission officials briefed reporters on the plans on
Thursday.

Ms. Reding is stepping up her campaign to modify the European Union=92s
copyright rules to suit a new era and to enable citizens to locate
content on public sites like Europeana, a digital library of Europe=92s
cultural heritage, as well as on private sites.

A hearing will be held next month in Brussels on Google=92s efforts to
digitize major collections of books and the company=92s proposed
settlement with book publishers in the United States.

Ms. Reding said Europeans should =93look very closely at the discussions
in the U.S. to see how the experience made there could best be used
for finding a European solution.=94

On Thursday, European officials highlighted the role that private
companies like Google could play in helping financially struggling
public authorities carry out the expensive task of digitizing
materials like books.

Ms. Reding=92s suggestions =97 which are open to public comment until mid-
November =97 broadly mirror aspects of United States copyright law and
echo the proposed Google settlement by creating a central registry for
the works.

Under the proposed settlement in the United States, companies like
Google would be able to reproduce works contained in the registry in
exchange for paying money to a central authority that would
redistribute the proceeds.

In its proposal, the commission will suggest that =93solutions could
include speeding up the creation of registries of orphan and out of
print works=94 and =93the pragmatic use of a cutoff date that would impose
a lower threshold=94 for users trying to clear rights to the works. In
the United States, the so-called cutoff date is 1923; works appearing
before that year are generally considered to be in the public domain.

Google already has deals to digitize works at public libraries in the
United States and with the Bodleian Library in Oxford. State libraries
in France and Italy also are considering similar ventures with Google.

***************************************************************************
Manon Ress
manon.ress@keionline.org
Knowledge Ecology International
1621 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20009 USA
Tel.:  +1.202.332.2670, Fax: +1.202.332.2673