Google executive: search giant to seek separate European deal

Oct 15, 2009, 14:42 GMT

   Frankfurt - Internet search giant Google is to seek a separate accord with European publishers, chief legal officer David Drummond told reporters Thursday at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

German and French book publishers have angrily rejected an accord between Google and US publishers to bring online a century of out-of-print books, charge for access and pay rights holders royalties. The continentals say this breaches copyright law.

The legal officer said that in Europe, Google was only digitizing books which are so old that they are free of copyright.

'We don't intend to transfer the US model to Europe, but intend to go a separate way here,' said Drummond, referring to the Google Books Settlement in a New York court. He did however stressed Google would keep on digitalizing books from the whole world.

Drummond said Google was aiming for a model that would work 'just as well' for authors and publishers in Europe and wanted them all at the table. The US company says it has scanned 10 million books so far.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel attacked the company Saturday in her weekly videocast, saying 'We oppose books being scanned without any copyright protection, as Google does.' On Tuesday at the Book Fair she promised to get aggressive and 'support copyright worldwide,' grimly adding, 'This is going to be a tough one.'

Publishers at the Book Fair have been waiting for a sign of how Google will respond to the protests. Last month, Germany's publisher and bookseller federation claimed the New York settlement was a 'failure' after the court adjourned consideration till November 9.

Drummond declined to say how the settlement would be modified to meet concerns raised in more than 350 submissions to the court. However, he denied that the judge and the US Department of Justice had called its fundamental utility into question.

At the Fair, the US-based company announced a new service, Google Editions, to sell newly published books online so they can be read with web-browsing software.