French publishers slam new Google book proposals; AFP, 11/19/09

AFP; French publishers slam new Google book proposals:

"French book publishers gave a hostile reception Thursday to new proposals by the Internet giant Google to clear the way for millions of books to be sold online.

The proposals "do not mark any progress on the essential question of non-English language works pirated by Google," said a statement by the Publisher's Association (SNE), which groups most of France's publishers.

"The SNE is maintaining its position by asking Google to respect the essential principle of prior consent by authors and publishers for use of their works," it said.

The SNE noted that it has an ongoing court case against Google, seeking compensation from the US company which it accuses of counterfeiting French books by digitizing them and posting them online.

The Federation of European Publishers on Monday gave a cautious welcome to Google's new proposals.

"It is positive that the parties considered the concerns of European publishers and made some steps, however we want to analyse more thoroughly the new settlement before giving a final comment," it said."

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