Editor Choice

Losing the plot

By Zhu Linyong and Zhang Zixuan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-17 07:51

On Oct 31, around 30 writers in Tianjin, including Feng Jicai, vice-chairman of the All-China Federation of the Arts and Literature, began a petition to support Zhang's society, which has more than 2,000 members. Days later in Beijing, Mian Mian became the first author to file an individual lawsuit accusing Google of violating the copyright of her 2004 novel Acid Lover.

Losing the plot

The Chinese Writers' Association will also launch a nationwide campaign this month calling for more authors to support the fight, said spokesperson Chen Qirong.

Google Books is far from a legitimate library, according to Chinese lawyers, as its sole purpose is to generate revenue.

"It is nothing but a vehicle through which Google can profit in the name of serving public good," said Wei Ning, a Beijing copyright lawyer. "By attracting huge numbers of authors and readers, Google will surely find smart profit models in its so-called free services. And that harms the interests of copyright holders."

In an e-mail to China Daily, Google declined to detail how the company plans to resolve the dispute with Chinese authors.

The company has offered a compensation settlement of $60 per book to authors, as well as 63 percent of the revenue from online reading. To reject the package and Google's right to scan their works, however, writers must appeal before Jan 5 next year.

Zhang, who met with executives from Google on Nov 2, blasted the offer as unacceptable.

"Google violated Chinese writers' copyright. It is ridiculous for a business in the US to set a deadline for Chinese writers to protect their interests. Also, the company should clearly admit to its infringements and negotiate with Chinese authors sincerely," he said.

Several Chinese experts have also warned that the aggressive expansion of Internet giants like Google could deal a fatal blow to the nation's fledgling digital publishing industry, with global markets in danger of being monopolized.

"For Google, money is not an issue. Since people are about to accept the company's proposed settlement, it can then move forward with its digital publishing project, which may severely threaten locally based players," an industry expert told China Daily on condition of anonymity.

Zhao Ge, chief executive of Founder Apabi, China's largest private digital library boasting more than 600,000 authorized titles, disagreed. She said: "Big and powerful as it is, Google does not know about local markets and cultures as well as local players do. The survival of search engine Baidu is a case in point."

When contacted by China Daily, Google declined to comment on whether its services pose a threat to digital publishing enterprises across the world, including China.

China's domestic online publishing sector has been hampered by disputes over copyrights for the past decade, significantly slowing down growth, say experts.

An array of authorized public digital libraries has been launched in the past few years, including Founder Apabi, Superstar, Sursen and ChineseAll, while the nation has implemented at least 17 laws, bylaws and regulations concerning digital publishing, including the Regulations on Internet-based Publishing.