Google submits scanned books list
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Online search behemoth Google has supplied a list of more than 80,000 Chinese works scanned into its digital library, an association defending Chinese authors' copyrights said yesterday.
"The current list does not include books published before 1987, when China signed up with the global standards body's International Standard Book Number (ISBN) classification, which is a unique numeric identifier of books," Zhang Hongbo, deputy executive director-general of the China Written Works Copyright Society (CWWCS) told China Daily.
"We will push Google to provide a complete list before our fourth-round negotiations begin on Jan 8 next year," he said.
Last month, the CWWCS said, Google had scanned 18,000 books by 570 Chinese writers without their consent for its online library, Google Books, which is available only to Internet users in the US.
"The talks on compensation will be based on a recheck of the complete list," Zhang said.
The negotiations will prove to be a better choice for Chinese writers in protecting their copyrights.
"We don't encourage Chinese writers to sue Google individually due to the high costs involved. A united group could argue for better compensation in the campaign against copyright infringement," he said.
Mian Mian, a Shanghai-based novelist, had sued Google China earlier for copyright infringement. The Haidian District People's Court held a hearing on the case Tuesday.
Sun Jingwei, Mian's lawyer from the Beijing-based Yingke Law Firm, had told China Daily that Mian was the first Chinese writer to individually sue Google for copyright infringement, and that the case could encourage other Chinese writers to seek copyright protection.
"We respect Mian Mian's right to seek copyright protection, but we hope more writers will voice their displeasure through the CWWCS," Zhang said.
More than 2,000 Chinese writers were members of the CWWCS, he said.
Mian Mian, a writer known for her lurid tales of sex, drugs and nightlife, filed the suit in October after Google scanned her latest book, Acid House, into its library.
Erik Hartmann, the Asia-Pacific head of Google Books, had shifted base from Singapore to Beijing to handle the negotiations, according to the CWWCS.
"That indicates that Google is paying keen attention to the Chinese digital library market," Zhang told China Daily.
Marsha Wang, Google's spokeswoman in Beijing, said the company had removed Mian's works from its library as soon as it learned of the lawsuit, AP reported yesterday.
Google had no further comment on the lawsuit, the report quoted Wang.
Google's ambitious effort to make printed works available online has faced opposition from writers in the United States, Europe and elsewhere.
