Google was again found violating German legislation

The Germany government said in a U.S. court filing that Google Inc's plan to digitize millions of books would violate the country’s copyright law and privacy protections for Internet users.

According to filing dated Monday, Germany opposes a proposed settlement, which Google reached with the Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers Inc among others in October 2008, because Google could digitize books by German authors without their consent. It was signed by Johannes Christian Wichard, deputy director general of the Directorate Commercial and Economic Law, in Germany's Justice Ministry. He said the deal would allow Google to "flout German laws that have been established to protect German authors and publishers, including with respect to digital copying, publishing and the dissemination of their works."

Under the settlement, authors have until the end of this week to tell Google that they do not want their books digitized. According to critics, the deal would allow Google, and only Google, to digitize so-called orphan works, which could pose an antitrust concern. Orphan works are books or other materials that are still covered by U.S. copyright law, but it is not clear who owns the rights to them.

The digitizing deal has divided the tech, publishing and antitrust worlds. Thus, Google's rivals Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc oppose the deal while the American Library Association and Association of Research Libraries asked for court oversight. They fear the deal gives Google the unimpeded ability to set prices for libraries, once they scan books and put them on the Internet. If the service becomes a necessity for libraries they would face monopoly pricing, Google's opponents say.

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating the deal while European Union antitrust enforcers, prompted by Germany, have said they would study it. Meanwhile, in Brussels, the European Union's media commissioner, Viviane Reding, welcomed Google's initiative. "It is good to see that new business models are evolving which could allow bringing more content to an increasing number of consumers," Reding said in a statement last week.

A hearing on approval of the settlement is set for October 7 in Manhattan federal court. The proposed settlement would settle a lawsuit filed in 2005 by the Authors Guild. The Guild and a group of publishers had alleged copyright infringement.

Additionally, Google has agreed to pay $125 million to create a Book Rights Registry, where authors and publishers can register works and receive compensation.