Google Books reassures EU

		Internet search leader Google Inc said Monday it is making concessions to European publishers to try and soothe worries over its Google Books project, which aims to put many hard-to-find books online. --PHOTO: AP

BRUSSELS - INTERNET search leader Google Inc said Monday it is making concessions to European publishers to try and soothe worries over its Google Books project, which aims to put many hard-to-find books online.

Google plans to sell to US customers digital versions of out-of-print books that are still in US copyright as part of its Google Books digital library project. Under a settlement with US authors and publishers, this will cover all books unless the copyright holders object.

That agreement doesn't cover Europe and has raised hackles among European authors, publishers and libraries for very different reasons.

Google sought to assure European copyright holders that the deal wouldn't infringe their rights, saying it wrote to several national publisher associations 'to clarify that books that are commercially available in Europe will be treated as commercially available under the settlement.'

This aims to calm fears that the English-language version of a book originally published in a European language could be listed as out-of-print in the US and sold online without explicit consent from the European copyright holder.

Google said in a statement that it would only display such books to U.S. users 'if expressly authorized by rights holders.'

It also said it will ask representatives of European authors and publishers to join the board of the project's book rights registry, an independent nonprofit organization managed by the Authors Guild and Google to collect and distribute revenue from Google Books.

'We listen carefully to all concerns of stakeholders around the globe and work hard to achieve the common goal of bringing back to life millions of lost books in a way that serves the interest of all,' Google said in a statement.

The European Commission is holding Monday a hearing to examine the effect of Google's 10-month settlement with US authors and publishers on copyright holders in the European Union.

Unlike the US, Google is only scanning European books over 150 years of age to avoid infringing copyrighted material. So far, it has scanned some 10 million books - many of them still in copyright. -- AP

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