France Nails Google For Copyright Infringement

Google has been publishing the contents of books online, which has raised copyright concerns. France is more than concerned. A French court has nailed Google for copyright infringement for doing it.

Google is forever seeking to break into new areas. From buying YouTube [and probably regretting it] to launching Chrome OS and Google Docs to take on Microsoft, the company is expanding its reach in leaps and bounds. Generally, this has been very favorable for consumers who are sick of paying for software like Windows and MS Office that isn't exactly reliable or well thought out.


There are, however, situations where the Google expansion is less beneficial. One controversial area is the decision of the company to launch an effort to publish books on the web. The controversial aspect is said publishing is arguably a form of copyright infringement. This is particularly true since the author does not give consent and Google makes money by placing ads around the text of the book. Most authors barely get by on royalties, so having their writing offered free on the web is very painful.

So, is this a form of copyright infringement? The issue has not really been nailed down as of yet, but it is starting to. A court in France has weighed in on the subject. It has ruled that Google's publication of ebooks without the consent of copyright holders is an infringement. Google has been fined 300,000 euros and an additional 10,000 euros for each day it continues to do so. Google has indicated it will appeal the verdict.

It is easy to think that this case is one that is restricted to France and is just part of its admittedly long history of offering oddball verdicts. This is not the case with the Google book publishing situation. Authorities in other European countries are balking as well. In the US, regulators are indicating a deal with publishers will get a close review and most likely be rejected.



The bigger issue for Google is a size problem. Google is spreading its arms so far that anti-trust authorities are looking at it in multiple countries including the United States. Google had a deal to provide search results for Yahoo in 2009 that it had to back away from when anti-trust authorities indicated Google's reach on the web would be viewed very closely. This is a stance we can expect to see in the future with practically any sizeable Google deal.

Is this scrutiny of Google good news or bad news? Well, it is clearly bad for Google, but good for consumers. Having a dominant company on the web is very dangerous. Google generally does positive things, but it also is known for not respecting its users on issues like privacy. Giving it or any other company massive control of the web would be a mistake and government authorities across the world now seem to realize this.

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