[A2k] Financial Times: French ruling raises resistance to Google

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ce10352e-ebc9-11de-930c-00144feab49a.html

French ruling raises resistance to Google

By Ben Hall in Paris and David Gelles in San Francisco

Published: December 18 2009 14:42 | Last updated: December 18 2009 19:21

Google faced increased global resistance on Friday to its plan to
digitise books when a Paris 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 Matini=E8re, the company that
brought the case, and instructed it to pay =80300,000 ($429,000) in
damages and interest. Google said it would appeal.

The case is the first time that Google=92s ambitious scheme to scan in-
copyright but out-of-print books held in US libraries =96 including
foreign works =96 has been deemed illegal by a court.

Google last year reached a settlement with US publishers, but this is
still under legal review.

=93It is a great victory that shows that you can=92t just pirate other
people=92s books,=94 said Serge Eyrolles, head of the SNE, French
publishers=92 association.

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 on-line book search facility.

=93French readers now face the threat of losing access to a significant
body of knowledge and falling behind the rest of internet users,=94 said
Philippe Colombet, head of Google Books France.

French publishers concede they need to work with Google, but want it
to negotiate terms.

=93I would like Google to acknowledge that verdict , since it now
appears that the only way to go forward will be contractual, which
entails negotiations,=94 said Arnaud Nourry, chief executive of Hachette
Livre, the world=92s second largest book publisher.

The French case will have limited implications for US publishers.
French law offers more protection to copyright holders because it does
not include the =93fair use=94 exception to copyright breaches contained
in US law. Google has often cited the =93fair use=94 principle to defend
its scanning project.

The French court judgement could encourage legal action in other
European countries where copyright law does not contain the =93fair use=94
exception.

Earlier this week, the French government earmarked =80750m to a
programme to digitise French cultural goods, which could include a
rival French book scanning scheme to Google.

------------------------------------------------------------


Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
thiru@keionline.org


Tel: +41 22 791 6727
Mobile: +41 76 508 0997