The German administration has urged a US court to block Google's plan to publish out of print books online, claiming that the proposed service could damage copyright law around the world.
Google's ambition to publish milliions of 'orphan books' - titles that are no longer published but are still covered by copyright law led to a case being brought by the Authors Guild versus Google in a New York court.
Since then Google has proposed a settlement which will be adjudicated on in the court on 7 October. Parties opposing the settlement have until the end of this week to register their opposition.
Now the German government, through a document signed by Johannes Christian Wichard, deputy director general in the German government's Justice Ministry, has said: "The decision of this court with respect to this settlement will have the dramatic and long-range effect of creating a new worldwide copyright regime without any input from those who will be greatly impacted - German authors, publishers and digital libraries and German citizens."
He said that should the settlement pass, the ruling will flout German laws that protect authors and publishers. Both the US Department of Justice and EU regulators are investigating the deal.
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