“Thanks, but we’ll do it ourselves” is pretty much what France said in response to Google’s effort to digitize the nation’s library, as reported by Scott Sayare of the New York Times. And its president, Nicolas Sarkozy, put his money where his mouth is by committing almost $1.1 billion to scanning the National Library’s 14 million volume collection. The government was reacting to an outpouring of nationalist outrage over what was perceived as an invasion of the country’s literary treasure trove.

As if to put le point d’exclamation on the government’s maneuver, a short time later a French court ordered Google to pay €300,000 – over $430,000 – in damages for breach of copyright stemming from litigation commenced in 2006. Google was also required to cease distributing digital copies of French books online because La Martinière Groupe, the publishers, had not authorized such use. The grounds for the French legal action, which was joined by the French Publishers Association representing some 400 publishers, were not dissimilar to those cited in the suit brought against Google by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, a suit that has eventuated in the settlement currently awaiting adjudication.

Do you think Google will get le message?

RC

Every Blogger owes a debt of gratitude to newspapers and magazines. This posting relies on original research and reporting performed by the New York Times.