Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Hot on Facebook
Guy Buys $123 Safe on eBay, Finds $26,000 Inside Seller tries to get half the cash back, fails »

German Publishers Launch Google Books Rival

Service won't show text snippets, which Germans think violate copyright

By Colleen Barry,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 14, 2007 11:26 PM CDT

(Newser) – German publishers irked by Google Book Search's indexing of their books without paying a fee have launched a competing version of the same service. So far, reports Ars Technica, about 300 publishers have made about 8,000 German books available to searchers on Libreka.de, with up to 50,000 more to be added. Users can view titles and cover images of books containing searched-for phrases.

The German publishers consider even the short snippets of text that show up in the results of a Google search a copyright violation, and object to Google's opt-out model, where publishers must explicitly ask for their books to be removed from the database. Libreka, annouced at the giant Frankfurt Book Fair, is opt-in, meaning publishers' material is only included once they agree it can be added.

Visitors look at an information screen at the Google Book Search stand at the International Frankfurt Book Fair 'Frankfurter Buchmesse' in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007. The world's largest book fair with this year's focal theme on Catalan Culture is open to the public from Oct. 10 to 14,...
Visitors look at an information screen at the Google Book Search stand at the International Frankfurt Book Fair 'Frankfurter Buchmesse' in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007. The world's largest...   (Associated Press)
Visitors look at an information screen at the Google Book Search stand at the International Frankfurt Book Fair  'Frankfurter Buchmesse'  in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007. The world's largest book fair with this year's focal theme on Catalan Culture is open to the public from Oct. 10 to 14,...
Visitors look at an information screen at the Google Book Search stand at the International Frankfurt Book Fair 'Frankfurter Buchmesse' in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007. The world's largest...   (Associated Press)
Google Book Search digitizes books so they can be searched.
Google Book Search digitizes books so they can be searched.   (Getty Images)
A visitor walks past a logo of Google.
A visitor walks past a logo of Google.   (Getty Images)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
To report an error on this story, notify our editors.
A snapshot of the day's best news stories.
 
COMMENTS
Be the first to comment on this story.

More Newser Stories

French Court to Google: Stop Scanning

Feds Step Up Antitrust Probe of Google Books Deal

Google Settles Lawsuit Over Book Scanning for $125M

Google Bares Tool to Hunt & Zap Copyrighted Videos

Megaupload Founder Hid From Cops in Panic Room


NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   Betty Confidential   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Fark   |   Timelines   |   The Frisky   |   Geek Sugar   |   NewsOne