"Breathtaking", "trailblazing" and "audacious" are the words used by the representatives of the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and Google to describe the settlement announced at the end of October. It is the result of two years of negotiations and running for over 141 pages, it regulates the use of the books Google has digitised in libraries.

The backstory: since 2004, Google has been digitising the books in various major American libraries (which each keep a set of data per book for internal purposes) and been using the scans for its Google Book Search programme. More than seven million books are said to have already been digitised in this way in the USA. In the process, Google has not differentiated between books that are copyright-protected and those that are not. On this basis, the Authors Guild in the US and five big US publishing companies - on behalf of the AAP - filed a lawsuit against Google for violation of copyright. Google rejected this charge.

In principle, the current "Google deal" allows for copyright-protected books which are either still on sale or out of print to be made available on the internet. Google does not have to ask the authors or publishing companies in advance for their permission (opt-in). But if an author or publishing company does not want his or its work to be used, there is the option of raising an objection (opt-out). Drawn up in accordance with American law, the settlement also at the same time regulates payment for authors and publishing companies, as well as options for controlling access to their works. Google thus admits indirectly that the mass digitisation of library stocks was not "fair use" in the true sense. Under American copyright law, the latter arrangement allows for works to be disseminated without the author's consent, provided they are not being used for commercial purposes, but for education and research.

"This historic settlement is a win for everyone", said Richard Sarnoff, Chairman of the APP. "From our perspective, the agreement creates an innovative framework for the use of copyrighted material in a rapidly digitizing world, serves readers by enabling broader access to a huge trove of hard-to-find books, and benefits the publishing community by establishing an attractive commercial model that offers both control and choice to the rightsholder."

However, as seen by the German Publishers & Booksellers Association - Börsenverein - the spectacular agreement is anything but a "victory for everyone". On the contrary: in its view, the fact that Google is now permitted to make works scanned in libraries publicly available on the internet without the agreement of the authors and other rightsholders, is a "dispossession of authors by the back door". Imre Török, chair of the German writers' association, Verband deutscher Schriftsteller (VS in ver.di), also believes: "In our view, a solution of this kind is not compatible with European copyright law."

Furthermore, the American agreement runs contrary to the furthest possible extent to the economic order as understood in Europe and for that reason, cannot be considered as a model for Europe, according to the Börsenverein.

There seems to be a different view of this point in Britain, however. Like their American colleagues, at least the Publishers Association and the Society of Authors have welcomed the agreement as a pioneering move. "It's a compromise for Google, but a major breakthrough for authors", said Mark Le Fanu, Secretary-General of the Society of Authors, in an interview with the BookBrunch internet service.

Although the settlement, still to be approved by the district court of the Southern District of New York, is initially only valid for the USA, it does affect international publishing companies. The books already scanned by Google include tens of thousands from German publishing companies. For their information and support, the Börsenverein's legal department has prepared a paper on the American test case and this is being made available exclusively to its publishing company members.

Sources: PR Newswire, Publishers Weekly 28.10.2008, Börsenverein, BookBrunch, Börsenblatt online