Italy against Google books project

Deal would hit 'almost every Italian book, ' publishers say

Ansa.it - Rome, September 4 - Google's project to digitize millions of books violates international copyright law, the Italian Publishers Association (AIE) said on Friday in its representations to a New York court. Filing its objections to a proposed settlement between the Internet search giant and the Association of American Publishers, the AIE said the deal would have an effect on ''almost every Italian book available on the US market''.''It would violate several elements of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, which requires copyright holders to be consulted before the works are used,'' said the AIE.Under the settlement reached last October, Google would pay 125 million dollars to create a Book Rights Registry, where authors and publishers could register works and receive compensation.Authors and publishers will be automatically included on the registry unless they inform Google otherwise by Friday. But the AIE says this opt-out procedure reverses established copyright practice under which a rightsholder's specific consent must be obtained in advance. The deal would also give Google alone the right to digitize so-called orphan works, which are those still covered by US copyright law but whose rightsholders cannot be traced and so are falling out of print. Although the deal is only with the Association of American Publishers, publishers and authors worldwide would be affected, as it would cover any work published in the US, regardless of where it was written or first published. Furthermore, say critics, the global nature of the Internet means that a digital library created in one country would quickly become accessible worldwide. Because the deal was in response to a class action, the agreement would bind all members of that class in the US, even though they were not involved in the original case. Amazon, Yahoo and Microsoft are among those fighting the settlement, complaining it would create a monopoly in which Google would hold effective control of a single global digital library. The AIE, which represents 90% of the Italian book market, echoed these fears in its comments to the New York court examining the settlement. ''We are faced with a private agreement that effectively sets up a special rights management system in favour of a single enterprise,'' said the association. ''This is unprecedented, because copyright exceptions are usually established by law and in favour of the general public, not in favour of a single company. ''A system of this kind entails the real risk of creating an electronic book-publishing monopoly''.It also pointed out that under the deal Google would have an entirely discretional power to exclude books from its digital library. ''It is not just publishers who should be worried by the prospect of a monopoly linked to an absolute power to censor works,'' said the association. But a Google spokesperson denied the deal would infringe copyright.''Our goal is to breathe new life into millions of books that are hard to find and are out of print, in complete respect of copyright,'' the spokesperson said. ''However, we are committed to looking closely at all the concerns raised by the AIE and we will make serious efforts to offer a response''.The original Friday deadline for parties to comment on the agreement has been extended to Tuesday.A final court hearing on the settlement will take place on October 7.