Jan. 12 – The head of Google Books in Asia has issued an apology letter to the China Written Works Copyright Society for publishing portions of their work in its online library without permission.
“Google has made Chinese writers feel dissatisfied in terms of their copyright protection. We are apologetic for the unhappiness brought about by this issue,” Google’s Eric Hartmann wrote. “Through the discussions and communications of recent months, it is our understanding that our communications with Chinese writers have not been good enough.”
In October, the China Written Works Copyright Society brought to attention Chinese works published by Google without permission or compensation to the authors. The non-governmental organization for protecting writer’s copyright issues told members not to agree to a Google proposal to allow it to publish portions of their works online.
Just last month, a Chinese writer Mian Mian filed a case against the search engine company in Beijing demanding RMB60,000 for copyright infringement and an apology for publishing parts of her book “Acid Lover” online.
Google’s Book Search project to scan all the books in the world and publish parts or all their contents online has been met with similar copyright objections abroad. The project has so far scanned more than 20,000 Chinese books with copyright protection. Google has agreed to submit a list of scanned Chinese books and provide a schedule to settle the copyright issue.
“Google’s apology is made mainly because the company values the Chinese market a lot, as well as due to the domestic media’s close attention to the issue,” Zhang Hongbo, deputy director of the group, told China Daily.
“They’re prepared to issue an official apology to the society on Tuesday,” he said. “We expressed appreciation for the act.”
Copyright protection in China is good for 50 years after the author’s demise. For works with two or more writers, the copyright protection applies 50 years after the last surviving author’s death says China Daily.
