Google Vs France In Book Digitalisation Battle

November 1, 2006: Google may need the big lawyers as it faces over 400 French publishes who have banded together to block Google’s mission to digitalise books in French for the Google Book Search.

La Martiniere was the first of the lot to file the lawsuit back in June by accusing Google of counterfeiting. The publisher claims google’s scanning and consequence inclusion of copyright works on the Google Book Search was illegal. La Martiniere says 100 of its books have been ‘counterfeited’ in this way.

Though Google’s scanning project, readers can rarely view entire works but do have access to large chunks of published material. It’s a project Google recommenced in August this year after announcing in 2004 that it would aim to scan into digital format every literary work.

The association of publishes banded together with La Martiniere on a mission to defend the publishing profession. Of particular upset to the Fresh association is the fact that the Google search engine displays the works graphically as torn pieces of paper, a portrayal the publishes say shows disrespect for the books.

As Google is currently preoccupied with other copyright issues throughout Europe, the company has been unable to give comment on the legal issue.

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