European Commission to discuss Google Books project

Google has agreed to appoint two European representatives to its Book Rights Registry, a group that oversees the Google Books digitisation project Photo: PA

Google will appoint two European representatives to a board that oversees Google Books, a digitisation project that aims to make many hard-to-find and out-of-copyright titles searchable online.

The move comes after some publishers and rival companies, including Microsoft, Yahoo! and Amazon, expressed concerns over the terms of the Google Books deal, and raised fears that the rights of European copyright holders could be undermined.

The European Commission is meeting today to discuss its position on Google's deal with US publishing groups to scan and archive thousands of books online. Last year, Google reached an agreement with the Authors Guild in the US and the Association of American Publishers over a copyright infringement class-action lawsuit bought against the search giant in 2005.

As part of that settlement, Google agreed to pay $125 million to resolve outstanding claims of copyright infringement, and to form the Book Rights Registry to pass on revenue generated by sales and online advertising to those copyright holders who agree to allow their books to be digitised.

European authors and copyright holders are worried that they have not had enough input in to the terms of that agreement. Google has sought to address those fears by agreeing to appoint two European representatives to a group that oversees the digitisation initiative, enabling them to advocate on behalf of European authors and publishers.

Some European publishers have expressed concerns that allowing such books to be added to Google's vast virtual library could impact sales, and affect the way they are able to sell books in their catalogue. Opponents are also worried that Europeana, the European Union's own publicly-funded book digitisation project, could be sidelined by the Google Books initiative, and are concerned at the prospect of a single US company being responsible for archiving and managing a repository of European cultural works.

Until a pan-European agreement is reached, Google will only be able to scan and digitise books that are no longer covered by copyright, and whose authors have been dead for more than 70 years. The search giant will need to obtain consent from all rights owners before it can scan a European title still in print or covered by copyright.

Google has defended its Google Books project, arguing that it will bring thousands of titles to a wider audience.

"We listen carefully to all concerns of stakeholders around the globe and work hard to achieve the common goal of bringing back to life millions of lost books in a way that serves the interest of all," said a Google spokesman in a statement.