Google Books found guilty of copyright violation

Internet giant Google has been ordered to stop its process of scanning French books in order to create a digital library, with a Paris court saying the company has infringed several copyrights.

But the company says it will appeal the decision, arguing the program will help users have easier access to a wider body of literary works than currently available.

The Paris Civil Court has ruled Google violated the copyrights of two French groups representing publishers, editors and authors, and has ordered the payment of $482,000 to Editions du Seuil SAS, which filed the suit.

“Google violated author copyright laws by fully reproducing and making [books] accessible on the site,” the court said in its ruling.

Google has scanned over 100,000 French publications which are copyright protected, one of the trade organisations involved in the lawsuit has said. Publishers’ main concern is they will lose significant revenue if their content is digitised and available for free.

“We are very, very satisfied,” said Yann Colin, a lawyer for Seuil told reporters. “The decision is immediately enforceable, so even if they appeal, they must stop the scanning.”

The ruling comes after similar copyright disputes in the US, with many publishing groups opposed to Google’s efforts to scan and make available books online. While Google has said it would reimburse publishers for revenue raised from the Google Books project, others have said there is little clarification for how the system would work.

The criticism against the Google Books project in Europe actually forced the company to amend its project in the US, Britain, Australia and Canada. A settlement will see Google pay copyright holders for protected works, with the company taking an effort to locate the copyright holders of “orphan” publications.

But Google was unhappy with the decision and has said it will appeal as soon as possible. The company is even taking part in a conference call with about 30,000 editors in order to discuss the Google Books project.

“French readers now face the threat of losing access to a significant body of knowledge and falling behind the rest of internet users,” Philippe Colombet, director of development for Google Books in France, said in a statement.

“Displaying a limited number of short extracts from books complies with copyright legislation both in France and the U.S. – and improves access to books…we are more determined than ever to collaborate with publishers, in France and elsewhere, so that we can find new economic models with them.”

The ruling comes after French president Nicolas Sarkozy said the country “could be deprived of our heritage” by the Google Books project.