Book Sellers worried over Google's Plans

The recent deal with American book publishers for Google's Book search (which we reported about here Google Agrees Copyright Deal) is causing some concern for European Book Sellers, with many fearing it could effectively drive them out of business.

Publishers and Authors are widely supportive of the plan which may be introduced in Europe but Booksellers fear that a monopoly will be created driving out booksellers, there is also the concern over the influence that Google may have over out of print and print on demand books.

Tim Godfray who is the chief executive of the UK Booksellers Association said

"We believe, moreover, that in the years to come Google will have huge influence on the pricing of all out-of-print and print-on-demand materials. Such an arrangement has the potential to put many booksellers out of business".

Tim's European counterpart Francoise Dubruille who is the director of the European Booksellers Federation has been quoted as saying

"This deal potentially cuts the ground from under the feet of booksellers. I think it would be very, very damaging to cultural diversity in Europe"

The deal has still to be approved by a federal court in Manhattan before it will begin and is the result of three years of negotiations between Google and American Authors and Publishers.

If this is approved it will mean that millions of titles will be made available on the internet including the ability to purchase copyright material.