The British Booksellers Association reportedly aren't happy
with Google's recent settlement of its copyright dispute with U.S. publishers and the Author's Guild. In fact, they don't like the deal at all and think it gives a de facto monopoly over the distribution of digital content worldwide.
The agreement, which was reached late last month, has no affect outside of the U.S. Nevertheless, in its statement the BA said that "if this one-stop shop direct to consumer approach of Google comes to Europe, it will surely result in a world that is culturally poorer for the consumer." It called the agreement "a bridge too far."
The statement added that while many of BA's members have started digital initiatives and that the BA believes in the greater dissemination of information, the Google agreement, "if ever adopted in the UK and Ireland would have a hugely damaging effect on the publishing and bookselling industry, and consequently, for authors and publishers as well."
Google wants to digitize every book in existence, so we assume that this issue is going to reach Great Britain and Europe at some point.
