jatiN mahindrA doT coM

French publishers had their first day in court today as a case concerning Google Books began.  Various organizations are clamoring for Google to stop scanning manuscripts, and the plaintiffs are seeking about $22 million in compensation, too.

The La Martiniere publishing group originally brought its case against Google several years ago.  Since then, the Syndicat National de l’Edition and the Societe des gens de letters have offered their support.

Serge Eyrolles, the president of the Syndicat National de l’Edition, used some particularly strong words to describe Google and its actions, telling Ben Hall, "It is an infernal machine, it never stops.  It is a disgrace.  It is cultural rape."

Also, according to Dominique Chabrol, the SNE believes that 100,000 French books still under the protection of copyright law have been scanned by Google.

So it looks like Google’s facing quite an uphill battle.  One of the few details in its favor is the fact that the company’s talks with the National Library of France have reportedly been going well.

Don’t count on seeing a ruling one way or the other in the near future, though, considering how long it took the case to make it this far, and remember that an appeal’s likely to occur whatever the outcome.

Related posts:

1. Stanford Endorses Google Books Settlement
2. Three More Groups Rally Against Google Books Settlement
3. Google Gives Alex Over a Million Books
4. Google Books Suffers Defeat In French Court
5. Revised Google Books Settlement Still Has Critics
6. (Another) New Google Books Deadline Set
7. Google Books Gets A Little More Organized
8. November 9th Target Set In Google Books Case
9. Google Books Backpedals
10. Google Shares New Privacy Policy for Books
11. Google Close To Deal With National Library Of France
12. 10 Days In Google Books Game Begins