Google books hearing date set by EC
23rd July 2009
The European Commission (EC) has set a date for a hearing on Google's deal with European book publishers that could see copyrighted titles made available online.
Commission spokesperson Oliver Drewes has confirmed that the meeting date has been set for September 7th.
The EU committed to examining the book deal, under which books would be published online, earlier this year after Germany complained that some books had been copied without the right holders' consent.
Google believes that an eventual settlement will improve access to books that are otherwise inaccessible to a global audience.
In an emailed statement published by the news agency Bloomberg, Google said: 'This is a really important issue to discuss - how we can use the internet to bring back to life millions of books in Europe that will otherwise be lost.
'This is at the heart of what we have done in the US in agreement with authors and publishers.'