Google Books accused of flouting EU copyright law

The European Union's executive body will investigate Google's plans to make millions of books available online. The measure follows complaints from Germany claiming the internet giant's project flouts the EU copyright law. A Heidelberg appeal has been launched in Germany claiming that intellectual property is being stolen from German authors. Germany claims that Google scanned books from US libraries without prior consent of rights holders to create its Google Books database. Britain and France supported Germany's concerns, Reuters reports. The European Commission will analyse how Google's settlement with authors in the United States affect writers' rights in the EU. "The commission will carefully study the whole issue and, if need be, take the necessary steps," said Vladimir Tosovsky, industry minister for the Czech EU presidency. In response, Google says it is happy to engage in any constructive dialogue on the future of books and copyright.