Google convicted in French copyright case

A Paris court ruled Friday that Google Inc. is breaking French law with its policy of digitizing books, handing the U.S. Internet giant a euro10,000 ($14,300)-a-day fine until it rids its database of the literary extracts. A judge also ordered Google to pay euro300,000 ($430,000) in damages and interest to French publisher La Martiniere, which brought the case on behalf of a group of French publishers. The attorney for Google, Alexandra Neri, said Google plans to appeal the decision. Google's plans to scan millions of books to make them available online has drawn criticism from publishers and libraries in both the U.S. and Europe. Even if the case doesn't have much financial impact on Google or force a big change in its book-scanning strategy, it is a reminder that its ambitions are increasingly colliding with fears that the company is getting too powerful. The head of the French publisher's union said he was "completely satisfied" with the verdict. "It shows Google that they are not the kings of the world and they can't do whatever they want," said Serge Eyrolles, president of France's Syndicat National de l'Edition. He said Google had scanned 100,000 French books into its database - 80 percent of which were under copyright. Eyrolles said French publishers would still like to work with Google to digitize their books, "but only if they stop playing around with us and start respecting intellectual property rights."

Source: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091218/D9CLPT0G3.html