Google Books Polarizes Europe

Google has long stated that its main goal is to make all the information in the world accessible to everyone, and its latest step toward doing so has been to undertake an ambitious book digitization project that would eventually allow Google to sell digital copies of millions of books. However, this project, as well as a forthcoming U.S. legal settlement regarding the issue, has met staunch resistance from several groups throughout Europe for alleged copyright infringement.
 
So far, Google’s project has the support of several big-name European publishers, among them Oxford University Press and Bertselmann and Holtzbrinck, owners of Random House and Macmillan respectively. These companies have seen Google’s project as an opportunity to expand the audience for their archives exponentially.
 
However, opposition to the project has mounted among the German government, the majority of French publishers, and a variety of collection societies throughout countries like Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. These groups claim that Google infringes upon the rights of the author and that it would end up harming those who it says it would actually benefit.

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