The EU may take a closer look at the Google Books digital library

Brussels - Some European Union countries are concerned about the project of the internet library Google Books. This emerged from today’s meeting of EU culture ministers in Brussels. Germany urged the union to proceed with caution regarding possible copyright violations. Google has been digitizing books and publications on a large scale and then allowing searching within them, but it has long faced problems regarding copyright issues.
    "I personally support access to information, fresh information, or things that are hardly available, but the law cannot be violated. There must be an act that protects authors," said the new Czech Minister of Culture Václav Riedlbauch to journalists today, who led the meeting.
    Google launched a portal tailored for book searches at the end of 2004. The program was developed quickly thanks to collaboration with major universities, particularly in the USA. Currently, it allows searching up to seven million digitized books.
    By entering, for example, the title of a book, Google will find its edition, offer the content, a short excerpt, links to reviews, and related websites and academic works. Works that are not subject to copyright and are in electronic form are offered for download. For the rest, where copyright is still applied, Google will offer just an excerpt, and if the book is available, it will also offer it for purchase.
    Among Czech authors, one can find works by Milan Kundera, Josef Škvorecký, Božena Němcová, Jaroslav Hašek, or Ludvík Vaculík on Google Books. However, the digitization of books has been accompanied by copyright issues from the very beginning, with last year providing at least a partial breakthrough.
    Last autumn, the California company managed to reach an agreement with the main American copyright holders. Google agreed to pay a fee of 125 million dollars, which will be used to create a Book Rights Registry, to resolve existing claims from authors and publishers, and to cover legal fees. At this moment, the agreement is awaiting court approval.
    The question, however, remains how the union will react. The debate on copyright regarding Google Books appeared at the EU ministers' meeting for the first time today and will undoubtedly continue. "I have experienced several debates in the mid-90s when everything was changing all at once. In the end, an optimal solution was found that served the matter. The commissioner (EU Commissioner for Information Society Viviane Reding) is an experienced woman; a solution will also be found within Europe," added Riedlbauch.
    However, Google Books is not the only digital library in the world. The European Union also has its library, named Europeana. However, its content consists solely of publications that are not subject to copyright.