[InetBib] WG: On behalf of Joanne Yeomans, Director of EBLIDA

["Müller, Harald" <hmueller@xxxxxxx>]

________________________________

Von: Claudia Forero im Auftrag von Eblida
Gesendet: Mo 07.09.2009 09:28
Betreff: On behalf of Joanne Yeomans, Director of EBLIDA



Dear colleagues,

EBLIDA has been invited to present its views on the US Google Book settlement
during the European Commission's hearing today (September 7th) in Brussels. A
written statement containing supporting information was sent to the Commission
on September 3rd. You will now find the statement on EBLIDA's web pages at
http://www.eblida.org/uploads/eblida/10/1252227760.pdf


The statement was prepared by the members of the EBLIDA Expert Group on
Information Law with input from EBLIDA members and approved by the EBLIDA
Executive Committee. The expert group has also given advice on the content of
the verbal statement which I will present today.

IFLA and LIBER have also aligned themselves with this statement and we will
present a united opinion from the libraries in Europe that we represent. The
statements reflect the concerns that we have should the settlement be agreed in
the USA: the resulting competitive disadvantage for our libraries, universities
and citizens; the difficulty of reaching a similar agreement across Europe; the
need for changes to copyright law, and our concerns about the current clauses in
the settlement, which is likely to act as a model should we wish for similar
agreements to be made with Google.

The IFLA statement has been sent to the US court as IFLA is a member of the
plaintiff class (a US publisher) in the law suit. EBLIDA's statement calls for
the European Commission to make changes to copyright law so that it is possible
for anyone to build such a digital library in Europe in future.

I will also present the EBLIDA views to the press this morning before the EC
hearing, and we expect the hearing itself to be reported widely in the news. In
any case, I look forward to reporting back to EBLIDA on my return.

Kind regards, Joanne

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Joanne Yeomans, Director EBLIDA.
European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations.
Secretariat EBLIDA  -  P.O. Box 16359,
NL - 2500 BJ  The Hague  -  The Netherlands.
Tel: +31 (0)70 30 90 550. Fax: +31 (0)70 30 90 558
Mob: +31 (0)620 41 65 79. http://www.eblida.org <http://www.eblida.org/> 
*******************************
Lobbying for Libraries
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