French court fines Google for copyright infringement
19 Dec 2009
A Paris court has fined internet giant Google for digitising French books without publishers approval, the BBC reported yesterday.
The court ruled that Google violated French copyright laws, and fined the company 10,000 euros ($14,300) a day until it removes excerpts of French books from its online database.
Google was also ordered to pay $430,000 in damages and interest to a French publisher.
The publisher's lawyers say Google has scanned about 10,000 of their works without permission. The French publisher's union says Google has scanned more than 100,000 French books into its database.
So far, Google has scanned 10 million books through partnerships with libraries.
The French publisher was one of many to take Google to court for digitising books without explicit permission.
"French readers now face the threat of losing access to a significant body of knowledge and falling behind the rest of internet users," said a spokesman for the firm.
.webp)
