Google's plan to create a database of all books online has hit problems. It had previously appeared to reach an out-of-court settlement after many authors and publishers had sued the Internet search giant over its plans. The settlement would have enabled Google in the US to deal with books that were either out of print or orphaned (which is where the copyright owner cannot be traced). However, the US Department of Justice has opposed the proposed settlement. It said that dealing with millions of copyrighted works in this way should not be done through a settlement between parties but legislation should be passed. The proposed settlement had been controversial as some authors and publishers had opposed it. The Open Book Alliance, one of the opponents of the proposed deal, has pronounced it dead.
Meanwhile, the European Commission is consulting on how to operate a digital library of scanned-in books in Europe. However, unlike Google's controversial scheme, the Commission's project, Europeana, does not scan in any works which are still protected by copyright. The Commission is looking for views from industry and the public as to operating its €3m per year project. The Europeana project has been inhibited by its non-use of out of print works, which represent a significant proportion of publications. The consultation is open until 15 November 2009. For more, click here: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/digital_libraries/doc/communications/next_steps_2009/questions_en.pdf.
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