Google's plan for a digital book monopoly is hotly contested by European publishers

The legal wrangling over Google Books – the internet giant's wildly ambitious project to become one of the largest libraries and booksellers in the world – has taken on an international flavour. In late September a French publisher accused the ubiquitous search engine of breaking French copyright law in its effort to scan millions of books. Debate is now taking off across Europe.

Since 2005, Google has been inching its way toward – but not quite reaching – a settlement with authors and publishers that would give Google Book Search the right to scan and display millions of copyrighted books. At the time of writing, Google was scrambling to make changes to reach a settlement with parties including the Authors Guild and a bevy of copyright holders. But while the parties are still negotiating in the US, a suit in France is moving forward. Les Editions de La Martiniere filed a suit in France in 2006 to stop Google's scanning operation, claiming that even though the vast majority of the scanning is done in the US, the law being broken is French. "It is an infernal machine, it never stops. It is a disgrace. It is cultural rape," huffed Serge Eyrolles, in the best tradition of French aesthetes, at a press conference in September. Eyrolles is the president of the Syndicat National de l'Edition, a group of French publishers that supports the litigation.

The publisher wants $25m (£15.3m) in damages, fines of around $150,000 (£91,700) for every reference to a La Martiniere book on Google Book Search and $150,000 for every day that the books remain online after a judgment is handed down. Google's lawyer, Herbert Smith partner Alexandra Neri, is having none of it. She describes Eyrolles' outburst as "a declaration from a Greek tragedy," adding prosaically: "New internet services often draw passion."

The crux is whether French or US copyright law should apply, says Yann Colin of Paris boutique Franklin, who represents La Martiniere and writers group the Societe des Gens de Lettres. Soon after Google started scanning books in the US in 2004, chief executive officer Eric Schmidt announced that the company was taking advantage of the 'fair use' doctrine, which enabled it to make available online an excerpt from every scanned book without the publishers' permission. The concept doesn't exist under French law.

France isn't the only European country upset by Google's project, which critics claim will effectively create a monopoly on digital access to books, including those written by Europeans. Germany has also taken issue with the proposed settlement on a number of grounds. Separately, recent news from the European Commission suggests Brussels may finally start revising copyright laws across the union to make digital book distribution easier. Given the current gridlock in the US, it could even be possible for Europe to take the lead in creating relevant legislation or an alternative digital library.

Isabel Davies, senior partner of CMS Cameron McKenna's intellectual property team, comments: "This is a catalyst for copyright in the digital arena to change. The battle lines have been drawn and some complex issues are now in the spotlight, so it has to be taken forward. The EU has an opportunity to take the lead."

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