• Search Engine Land
  • Sections
    • SEO
    • SEM
    • Local
    • Retail
    • Google
    • Bing
    • Social
    • Resources
    • More
    • Home
  • Follow Us
    • Follow
  • Search Engine Land
  • SEO
  • SEM
  • Local
  • Retail
  • Google
  • Bing
  • Social
  • Resources
  • Live
  • More
  • Events
    • Follow
  • SUBSCRIBE

Search Engine Land

Search Engine Land
  • SEO
  • SEM
  • Local
  • Retail
  • Google
  • Bing
  • Social
  • Resources
  • More
  • Newsletters
  • Home
Industry

Google Gives Some Ground In Books Row, France Moves To Protect “Orphans”

Google reportedly made a number of concessions to European officials concerned about the European implications of the Google Books Search settlement deal. The company is fighting on both sides of the Atlantic to gain regulatory and judicial acceptance of the deal previously announced, which has been criticized by a number of self-interested parties and legal […]

Greg Sterling on September 7, 2009 at 2:12 pm
  • More

Google reportedly made a number of concessions to European officials concerned about the European implications of the Google Books Search settlement deal. The company is fighting on both sides of the Atlantic to gain regulatory and judicial acceptance of the deal previously announced, which has been criticized by a number of self-interested parties and legal observers who contend that Google will have a near monopoly of so-called “orphan” books if the deal goes through. Orphan books are those that are still covered by copyright but rights ownership is uncertain or authors cannot be located.

According to a Bloomberg story about the EU concessions:

  1. Google will let two representatives from outside the U.S. join a board administering its digital books settlement
  2. Books that are commercially available and under copyright in Europe won’t be considered out of print under a proposed settlement with U.S. publishers

At an EU hearing today in Brussels, both Google and its critics were presenting their respective cases before European Commissioners. Google blogged about the hearing and the benefits to readers of digitizing the European collection. Meanwhile opponents, including Microsoft, Amazon and Yahoo (part of the so-called Open Book Alliance), sought to play up the negatives of allowing Google to proceed.

“We are fighting this cartel that is being proposed by the parties to the U.S. settlement and Google,” Peter Brantley of the Open Book Alliance told reporters ahead of the EU hearing.

(Previously, Microsoft abandoned its own book scanning project.)

Two EU Commissioners, Viviane Reding and Charlie McCreevy, issued a joint statement generally in favor of book digitization and a US-style settlement that would be pan-European.

Germany and France have been two of the biggest critics of the US deal, however. In fact France is going to file objections to the book search deal with the US court in New York overseeing the settlement agreement. A hearing to approve the US settlement is scheduled for October 7. According to statements made to Reuters French Culture Minister Nicolas Georges expressed broad concern about Google’s control over “orphaned” material:

France is concerned about European authors’ rights, Georges said.

“There are lots of European works in Google’s database. Google can digitalise these works without the permission of European authors,” he said.

He cited worries over the copyrights of orphan works, which are books or other materials that are still covered by U.S. copyright law, but it is not clear who owns the rights to them.

“Google will have a monopoly digitalising European orphan works without permission,” Georges said.

Germany previously filed similar objections with the US court.

We can probably expect more concessions from Google in the US and abroad before the settlement deal is formally approved (and there can be a similar arrangement in Europe). I would be very surprised however if the court or regulators entirely blocked the deal. It’s pretty clear that lots of stakeholders want book scanning to proceed and that governments lack the will and resources to do it themselves.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.



About The Author

Greg Sterling
Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land, a member of the programming team for SMX events and the VP, Market Insights at Uberall.

Related Topics

Channel: IndustryGoogle: Book SearchGoogle: CriticsGoogle: LegalGoogle: Outside US

We're listening.

Have something to say about this article? Share it with us on Facebook, Twitter or our LinkedIn Group.

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.
See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

Lorem ipsum doler this is promo text about SMX events.

February 23, 2021: SMX Report

April 13, 2021: SMX Create

May 18-19, 2021: SMX London

June 8-9, 2021: SMX Paris

June 15-16, 2021: SMX Advanced

August 17, 2021: SMX Convert

November 9-10, 2021: SMX Next

October 2021: SMX Advanced Europe

December 17, 2021: SMX Code

Available On-Demand: SMX

×


Learn More About Our SMX Events

Discover actionable tactics that can help you overcome crucial marketing challenges. Our next conference will be held:

MarTech 2021: March 16-17

MarTech 2021: Sept. 14-15

MarTech 2020: Watch On-Demand

×

Attend MarTech - Click Here


Learn More About Our MarTech Events

White Papers

  • The State of Local Marketing Report 2020-2021
  • Quality CRM Data: The Key to Delivering Great Customer Experiences
  • How the Microsoft Search Network Can Maximize Your Search Campaigns
  • The Marketer’s Playbook for Customer Acquisition
  • How To Optimize SEO With UGC
See More Whitepapers

Webinars

  • How to Avoid the Digital Transformation Trap
  • How to Build a Marketing System of Record
  • Meet BIMI: The brand-boosting email security marketers must have for 2021
See More Webinars

Research Reports

  • Local Marketing Solutions for Multi-Location Businesses
  • Enterprise Digital Asset Management Platforms
  • Identity Resolution Platforms
  • Customer Data Platforms
  • B2B Marketing Automation Platforms
  • Call Analytics Platforms
See More Research

h
Receive daily search news and analysis.
Search Engine Land
Download the Search Engine Land App on iTunes Download the Search Engine Land App on Google Play

Channels

  • SEO
  • SEM
  • Local
  • Retail
  • Google
  • Bing
  • Social

Our Events

  • SMX
  • MarTech

Resources

  • White Papers
  • Research
  • Webinars
  • Search Marketing Expo
  • MarTech Conference

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff
  • Connect With Us

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Youtube
  • iOS App
  • Google Play

© 2021 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

Your privacy means the world to us. We share your personal information only when you give us explicit permission to do so, and confirm we have your permission each time. Learn more by viewing our privacy policy.Ok