Google Books deal may be close

BEIJING, September 7 (Xinhuanet) -- Google will make concessions to European publishers and authors as the Internet search giant attempts to stem rising anger over its Google Books project, a report said on Monday.

According to the Financial Times newspaper, Google has agreed to have two non-U.S. representatives on the board of a body that will administer a U.S. legal settlement over the controversial online project. The paper cites a letter sent to 16 European Union publishers' representatives at the weekend. According to the letter, Google also promises to consult European publishers before cataloging some European works in its online digital library.

Google reached a class action settlement in October last year with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers to a copyright infringement suit they filed against the Internet giant in 2005. Under the settlement, Google agreed to pay 125 million U.S. dollars to resolve outstanding claims and establish an independent "Book Rights Registry," which will provide revenue from sales and advertising to authors and publishers who agree to digitise their books.

Germany said last week it opposed the legal settlement, arguing it violated international treaties on authors' rights. The European Commission is set to hold hearings Monday on how it should respond to the deal. Meanwhile Google has so far not commented on the reports.

Google has scanned in excess of 7 million books and aims to put the world's library online. However, it has face a battle with publishers and authors over copyright issues since starting the service in 2004. After striking a deal in the United States, Google's co-founder & president of technology Sergey Brin said, "Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Today, together with the authors, publishers, and libraries, we have been able to make a great leap in this endeavor." He went on to say that while the agreement was a "real win-win" for everyone, the real victors were the readers. "The tremendous wealth of knowledge that lies within the books of the world will now be at their fingertips," Brin said.