WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Google Inc's plan to digitize millions of books would violate German copyright law and the country's privacy protections for Internet users, the German government said in a U.S. court filing.
Germany opposes a proposed settlement, which Google reached with the Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers Inc among others in October 2008, because Google could digitize books by German authors without their consent, according to filing dated Monday.
It was signed by Johannes Christian Wichard, deputy director general of the Directorate Commercial and Economic Law, in Germany's Justice Ministry.
Wichard said the deal would allow Google to "flout German laws that have been established to protect German authors and publishers, including with respect to digital copying, publishing and the dissemination of their works."
"The decision of this court with respect to this settlement will have the dramatic and long-range effect of creating a new worldwide copyright regime without any input from those who will be greatly impacted -- German authors, publishers and digital libraries and German citizens," he said, noting that German authors not published in the United States were not represented by the Authors Guild.
"The decision of this court with respect to this settlement will have the dramatic and long-range effect of creating a new worldwide copyright regime without any input from those who will be greatly impacted -- German authors, publishers and digital libraries and German citizens," he said, noting that German authors not published in the United States were not represented by the Authors Guild.
More at Reuters.
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