Google has put the brakes on its programme to digitise the books in several major university libraries.In its blog, the search giant said it would temporarily stop scanning copyrighted texts until November to allay concerns about the plan.
The company’s library project aims to put millions of volumes online and accessible everywhere via the web.
Google’s plan has come under fire from several groups who object to what they say are violations of copyright.
Google is pumping $200m (£110m) into creating a digital archive of millions of books from four top US libraries – the libraries of Stanford, Michigan and Harvard universities, and of the New York Public Library – by 2015.
It is also digitising out-of-copyright books from the UK’s Oxford University.
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The trade body of the US publishing industry, the Association of American Publishers (AAP), said it still has “grave misgivings” about the project.
“Google’s announcement does nothing to relieve the publishing industry’s concerns,” said AAP president Patricia Schroeder in a statement.
“Google’s procedure shifts the responsibility for preventing infringement to the copyright owner rather than the user, turning every principle of copyright law on its ear,” she added.
On it’s ear? Jolly good…
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