Google's digital library comes under fire

Google has been greatly troubled over its digital library plan. The online collection has aroused opposition in many countries, as authors and publishers voice their doubts and concerns over the violation of copyrights. The Internet giant is now facing increasing lawsuits and warnings worldwide.

Google began setting up its digital library in 2004 to provide a service to American customers. In the past five years, it's put nearly ten million books online.

But insiders in the press as well as the publishing industry claim that Google has scanned books without authorization. And that constitutes a serious violation of copyrights.

In 2005, the digital library plan encountered resistance from US publishers. Since then, Google has faced many copyright hurdles, forcing a review of its actions.

And then the problem extended overseas. At the end of 2009, Japanese authors appealed to the government to ensure that any copies of Japanese publications would have authorization of copyright owners.

However, Google insists that its digital library plan doesn't violate copyrights.

Google's argument was refuted by a French court's rule that it infringed on copyrights by digitizing books and putting extracts online without authorization. The court in Paris ordered the Internet giant to pay over 300-thousand euros in damages and interest as well as stopping digital reproduction of material.

And since then, the lawsuits have been piling up. German chancellor Angela Merkel has stressed that Google should not be exempted from copyright laws.