Berlin on Wednesday opposed a legal settlement that would allow Google to digitise and sell millions of books online, arguing it violated international treaties on authors’ rights.
Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries told the Handelsblatt business daily that she had filed a 25-page legal brief with a court in New York that must give the settlement the green light.
“We hope that the court strikes down the approval of the settlement in the class-action suit, or at least excludes our German authors and publishers from the so-called class so the settlement has no impact on them,” Zypries said.
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She said the settlement violated international treaties such as the World International Property Organization Copyright Treaty adopted in Geneva in 1996, which stipulates that authors must be asked for permission before their works can be mass distributed elsewhere.
It also threatens initiatives such as the European online library Europeana which she said protected authors’ rights.
Read more on The Local (Germany).