Google loses books copyright case in France
Google has been ordered to pay more than $400,000 in compensation to a French publisher after bring found guilty of copyright infringement. The case, which involves Google Book Search, will not necessarily affect ongoing efforts to set up an agreement with American authors and publishers.
The firm had scanned books published by La Martiniere Groupe without permission. Google’s defense was that the way it did so, which involved making the book contents part of its search database, but not allowing users to read more than a sample passage, should be covered by fair use exemptions. The court disagreed and fined it 300,000 Euros, with an extra 10,000 Euros penalty for each day the content remains online.
La Martiniere, along with publisher and author groups which backed the case, had asked for a fine of 15 million Euros, but says it’s happy with the outcome and that the principle is just as important as the cash.
While the case may set a precedent if other French publishers take action, it should have no direct effect on the U.S. market.
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December 19th, 2009
E-books compromise would be financially beneficial.
Why don’t they work a compromise here that is beneficial to all especially the Author?
Allow free download to certain chapters in part only that is so the reader can see if it is what they want, then build in a pay for content system that will give the Authors a small fee. This way when used by Lap Tops, PC’s and E-Books the system could then generate a lot of revenue on a Global Scale for the Copyright Holders.
Many books stay on bookshelves never ever being read, such a waste of time and effort this is. Yet this way (I’m suggesting) the reader gets a chance to view parts of the content before deciding to purchase, everyone’s a winner.
Signed Carl Barron Chairman of agpcuk
http://carl-agpcuk.livejournal.com/