Brussels, 10/09/2009 (Agence Europe) - Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding has given her support to a “European register” common to all 27 member states which could become “an appropriate legal basis for simplifying digitisation and facilitating consumer access to out-of-print books”, thereby providing a regulatory framework that would solve problems relating to copyright for European authors in the digitisation of book collections which are faced by legislations that still differ widely from one member state to another.
On Tuesday 8 September, the commissioner met the various players in the “Google Books Search affair” to discuss a European framework that fully respects copyright rules in the process of digitising books. This meeting was organised after the hearing held the previous day which brought together authors, publishers and officials to discuss the controversy created in Europe by the Google Books Search agreement concluded on 28 October 2008. This agreement negotiated by Google to respond to the concerns expressed by US publishers and authors provides for authors receiving 63% of the online revenue generated by Google through its online books. It only applies to the United States, however, and could harm European authors and publishers whose works feature in the Google catalogue (see EUROPE 9971). Commissioner Reding feels that the agreement reached between the search engine and US authors and publishers is “interesting and practical” and wants Europe to come to a similar agreement, once the differences that exist in copyright law from country to another have been ironed out. Pointing out that the debate must not be seen as a “cultural war against technological progress,” Reding said that the European Union should consider Google Books digitisation as an opportunity to speed up the transition to “a modern copyright system that is simple for consumers to understand”. “Over the coming months, I would like to work on proposals for developing European legislation in this area, perhaps in the form of Community directives,” she said, hoping that she will be given responsibility for copyright matters during the third term of office that she is guaranteed of serving in the Commission.
In a joint statement with her Internal Market and Services counterpart Charlie McCreevy, Reding speaks of the “very important cultural and economic challenge” facing the European Union. Currently, only some 1% of the books in Europe's national libraries have been digitised. This, then, is a “Herculean” task, the commissioners say, stressing the need for “fully respecting copyright rules to ensure fair remuneration for authors, but also welcomed public-private partnerships as a means to boost digitisation of books”.
Over the coming weeks, the Commission will discuss the issue with stakeholders, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. The outcome of these deliberations will provide a good starting point for the Commission to present proposals to the Parliament and Council on how to modernise the European copyright system, in particular with regard to orphan and out-of-print works. (I.L.transl.rt)