Google has finally struck a deal with publishing group SNE to allow the scanning and publishing of books online – ending a six-year legal spat.
The dispute started in 2006 when Google first outlined plans to digitse snippets of Books for its search engine.
After a dispute with SNE, a court ruled in 2009 that the search company was in breach of copyright infringement after it digitised a number of French books.
But now an agreement has been made to allow publishers to opt in to being digitised by Google.
Under the deal, Google and the publishers will develop a catalogue of books that are eligible to be digitized, and publishers will be able to decide whether a given title can appear on Google’s search engine or be sold in digital form, and will retain the right to withdraw a work or prevent it from being scanned.
Google will give money to develop an SGDL list of authors and copyright holders.
Philippe Colombet, Google Books France director, said that, “The deal is “a key phase” in Google’s relationship with the French publishing world. It would give authors and publishers control over how their works are sold. All conditions are now in place for Google to participate in developing digital books in France and contribute to spreading French culture”.
Publishers’ group SNE said the deal respected the “rights of the author”.
“This announcement marks a positive advance for updating France’s print heritage under copyright and contributes to expanding the availability of digital books,” it said in a statement.
A Paris court had ordered Google to pay 300,000 euros (£240,000) to three French publishers.
Google had appealed against the decision – but has now struck a deal.
“The authors will be able to say yes or no to the indexing of their works,” SNE president Antoine Gallimard said.
“It is now up to each publishing house to decide if it wants to sign a framework accord with Google on authorship rights or not.”
The SGDL, which represents French authors, said the agreement would protect their rights on the internet.
The legal battle was just one of the tussles Google has faced over its books project.
The company has said it wants to digitise every book in the world by the end of the decade. So far, it has managed 20 million.
Last year, a deal between Google and US publishers to allow publication of books online was quashed by the US courts.
A judge said Google would gain a significant competitive advantage for “engaging in wholesale copying of copyrighted works without permission”.
