A French court ruled that Google’s infringing publishers’ copyright by scanning books and then making searchable extracts of them available online.
The practice is part of Google’s larger book project to scan the world’s books for online consumption — in full if the copyright has expired, or via excerpts if the copyright has not. In cases where copyright is still in effect, the search giant then provides information about where to purchase the book, or find it via library.
The court ordered Google to pay over 300,000 euros, or $430,000, in damages and interest and to stop digital reproduction of the material. The company was also ordered to pay 10,000 euros a day in fines until it removed extracts of some French books from its online database.
The article reports that President Nicholas Sarkozy pledged 750 million euros earlier this month toward a French initiative to scan the country’s literary works.
