Google apologizes to Chinese authors for book scanning

12 January 2010

Google has sent a letter to 800 Chinese Writers apologising for any misunderstanding caused by their insufficient communication regarding the digitising millions of books. They have consoled upset writers by vowing to work alongside them to form an agreement on the book project by early summer.

This isn't the first conflict Google has been involved with over its controversial book scanning project, which aims to digitize every known book and make them available online. Writers in France, the United States and Germany have filed lawsuits to stop Google digitising books without the permission of copyright owners.

Despite press reports saying otherwise, the search engine giant will not stop the scanning and indexing the works from Chinese authors. This is simply an olive branch offering to work with the authors' group to resolve any complaints.

Source: The Register