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European Union regulators are to ask publishers and authors about how they think Google's book-scanning programme will affect European copyright.
A meeting has been planned for 7th September to evaluate the $125m settlement between the internet search company and US publishers. The Associated Press reports that EU spokesman Oliver Drewes said officials wanted to collect the views of European publishers, authors and consumers to help them "draw provisional conclusions on the Google Inc.'s book-scanning settlement."
Earlier this month, the US Justice Department confirmed that it is launching an antitrust investigation into the settlement of a lawsuit that groups representing authors and publishers filed against Google. The $125m settlement was signed in October 2008 although the ratification date has been already postponed by four months until October. Critics of the deal argue that ti would give Google too much control over electronic copies of copyright protected books that are out of print.
Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal reports that the House Judiciary Committee has been moving toward scheduling a hearing on the topic, according to people with whom it has discussed its plans. Representatives for the committee began calling around among the parties involved in the case informally months ago to gauge interest, these people said. More recently, they’ve indicated they plan to move forward and put some parties on alert for a tentative 30th July date.