EU divided over Google Books[fr][de] 

Brussels will today (28 August) publish a document calling on member states to make more of an effort to digitise books, in order to make them available to a wider public.

According to EU figures, only 5% of all digital books are available in the recently-established and free-to-access EU library Europeana. Almost half of these come from France, while other countries with massive libraries, such as Italy, Greece, the UK or Spain, lag far behind in this process.

To speed up inclusion, Information Society Commissioner Reding is welcoming public-private partnerships and showing a very positive stance towards initiatives pursued by US giant Google.

This week, an Italian and French library were said to be close to striking deals with Google to digitise their works. This would save the libraries money while at the same time making their material available on Google Books. 

"The Commission welcomes the discussions between Google and the national libraries of France and Italy on a possible cooperation agreement that would provide wider access to our cultural heritage," said Commissioner Reding in a statement .

In a previous speech in July, she called for "the rather ideological debate about Google Books" to be put to an end. 

"I do understand the fears of many publishers and libraries facing the market power of Google. But I also share the frustrations of many Internet companies which would like to offer interesting business models in this field, but cannot do so because of the fragmented regulatory system in Europe," she said in a public speech in Brussels.

Reding's position appears far removed from those of many member states, which are openly arguing against the excessive power of Google in the digitised books market amid concern about the economic implications for European authors (EurActiv 27/05/09).

To address the controversy, Commissioner McCreevy called a hearing on Google Books, which will be hosted by the EU executive on 7 September. EU publishers will be offered a chance to publicly complain about the project (EurActiv 22/07/09).

Who's next in dealing with copyright?

Behind the relatively low-profile controversy within the Commission on how to deal with Google Books looms a much deeper quarrel over who will deal with copyright issues in the next EU executive.

The issue currently forms part of the internal market portfolio, but a likely reshuffle of competencies within the Commission could put it in the hands of a stronger information society commissioner, a situation coveted by Reding (EurActiv 23/06/09).

However, France is fiercely fighting for the internal market portfolio, which currently also includes the hot dossier of financial services. The strength of the French cultural industry, which France's President Nicolas Sarkozy has defended on many occasions, is another good reason for Paris to fight for the internal market file.

The destiny of the Google Books project is thus clearly linked to the identity of the new commissioner. Reding has shown support for it, but a French commissioner would obviously be less keen on the idea.

Cut-off date for copyrighted books? 

In its communication on digitising books, Reding is pushing for easier and more harmonised EU rules on copyrighted books, in order to facilitate the digitisation and possible sale of out-of-print and orphan works (of which the author is unknown).

In order to do so, the commissioner is considering introducing a cut-off date for claiming rights over old books, taking as an example US legislation on the issue.

Both in the EU and in the US, a book remains under copyright for 70 years after the death of its author. But the US foresees a cut-off year for the application of these provisions. All works published before 1923 are indeed publicly available. "Pragmatic use of a cut-off date […] would impose a lower threshold for diligent search for works from before a certain date," reads the document.