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Another battle between Google and the publishing industry begins today, as a court case taken by France's Publishers Association and Society of Authors kicks off in Paris.
According to AFP, the plaintiffs are contesting Google's 2005 campaign to digitise books without the prior authorisation of publishers or authors. The complaint was first filed three years ago.
Herve de la Martiniere, whose eponymous publishing group controls the Seuil publishing house, told the newswire: "We need to be able to deal with Google on a solid legal basis . . . It is unacceptable that someone would arrogantly take your books and digitise them without asking."
He estimated between 3,000-4,000 works published by his group had been digitised by Google without his consent.
Criticism of the deal has been strong in France, particularly since the launch of talks in August between Google and France's National Library, the BNF.
The French government was among those to condemn the internet giant's plans to create the world's largest digital library, and bookshop, arguing it was a "threat to cultural diversity" and claiming it would have a serious impact on French authors' rights.
Hachette Livre also filed objections to the Settlement shortly before the deadline earlier this month, urging the US court to reject it as "illegal, unfair and inequitable".
Today's court case comes just a day after Google and US authors and publishers agreed to revise the controversial Settlement.
The US Authors Guild and the American Association of Publishers asked for the Fairness Hearing into the Google Settlement to be postponed by about a month. The Open Book Alliance, which opposes the deal and includes Amazon and Microsoft, said the move meant the "settlement, as we know it, is dead".