Google Books deal draws closer

Google's plans to create digital copies of thousands of books could be one step closer to becoming reality after the search giant propose new terms to deal with objections from the US Department of Justice.

It had initially wanted to digitise out-of-print books and 'orphan' works - where the copyright owners cannot be found - from anywhere in the world, making them available to buy online.

However, after objections from countries such as France and Germany, and having the plans rejected by the Department of Justice due to anti-monopoly concerns, Google has agreed to limit the scope of the deal.

It sent a revised version of the plans to the Department of Justice over the weekend, though a decision as to whether it will be accepted is not due until February.

One of the major changes concerns the ownership of orphan works - whereas Google initially would have become the copyright owner, it is proposed that money made from selling orphan works could be put toward attempts to track down the original copyright owner before being distributed to charity.

"The changes we've made in our amended agreement address many of the concerns we've heard, while at the same time preserving the core benefits of the original agreement: opening access to millions of books while providing rightsholders with ways to sell and control their work online," Dan Clancy, Google Books engineering director said.

The revised deal will also only apply to the US, the UK, Canada and Australia.

Google has talked of plans to digitise out-of-copyright books as long ago as 2006 and more recently has struck deals with the Central National Library of Florence in Italy and the National Library of France to digitise their collections.


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