Google Books took another hit this week, as the company found itself obligated to apologize to Chinese authors for scanning their works without permission as part of its massive book-scanning operation.
Google apologized to the Chinese Writers Association, the group of Chinese writers that complained about the practice. Erik Hartmann, who represents Google Books in the region, read the apology on a news show on the Chinese state broadcaster.
“Due to different starting notions and different understandings of the copyright law systems in China and the U.S., our behavior has caused discontent among Chinese writers,” the statement said. “Our communication with Chinese authors has not been good enough. Google is willing to apologize to Chinese authors for this behavior.”
‘Two-Edged Sword’
In November, the group demanded that Google produce a list of Chinese books that it has scanned — and compensate Chinese authors for the violations. The association said it had identified 17,000 books scanned by Google.
“Chinese authors have already patiently waited for a long time but have not yet seen a satisfactory result,” a statement from the authors’ group said.
Ultimately, Google and the authors will find it in their best interest to compromise, said Tim Bajarin, principal analyst with Creative Strategies. “This is a two-edged sword for Google and the authors. Google needs to comply with all copyright laws, but if authors are smart, they will want to have Google as a potential distributor of their works as well. Ultimately, both parties need to resolve the copyright and compensation issues amiably.”
Google Books complies with U.S. and Chinese copyright law, a Google spokesperson said, adding that the site shows only snippets of copyrighted books where it doesn’t have permission from rights holders. But it’s far from clear whether scanning books without permission and showing only snippets of them is a copyright violation. Arguably,…