Germany Nixes Google Book Deal

First national goverment to speak out...

[tangor]

The German government has come out in opposition to Google's recent book settlement, declaring it would “irrevocably alter the landscape of international copyright law.”

Court papers filed in New York yesterday said the deal “runs afoul of the applicable German national laws, as well as European public initiatives to create non-commercial worldwide digital libraries.”

As reported at The Register
[theregister.co.uk...]

[signor_john]

For that matter, U.S. copyright law runs afoul of applicable German national laws, because it differs from German copyright law in certain respects (its attitude toward "moral rights," for example). That doesn't mean U.S. courts should defer to German law in U.S. copyright cases, or that Europe should have the right to dictate the terms of settlements in domestic U.S. lawsuits.

Think about the implications: If the U.S. allows Germany to influence the Google Book Settlement, what's going to happen when the Germans make a fuss about capital punishment :-)