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15 January 2010

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EBF contribution to the consultation on Creative Content in the Single Market

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13 November 2009  

EBF contribution to the consultation on Europeana

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07 September 2009  

EBF intervention at the hearing on Google settlement

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December 2008

EBF-FEP Declaration: Green Paper on Copyright in the Knowledge Economy

The European Booksellers Federation (EBF) is a non-for profit organisation representing booksellers and furthering their interests in the European Union.
The Members of EBF are the national Booksellers Associations from the EU Member States; Booksellers Associations from other European countries, like Norway, are Associate Members. Through its national member associations, who represent the large majority of bookshops in Europe, EBF represents more than 25.000 individual booksellers.

The Federation of European Publishers (FEP) is the association representing national book and learned journal publishers’ associations from 26 European Union Member States and European Economic Area.
Thus FEP is the voice of the great majority of publishers in Europe.
Founded in 1967, FEP deals with European legislation and advises publishers’ associations on copyright and other legislative issues.

EBF and FEP would like to raise some common points of interest in relation to the Green Paper on Copyright in the Knowledge Economy.

• The protection of the book chain is crucial. Booksellers and publishers are essential links in the book chain, promoting cultural diversity and high quality of content. All EU initiatives should support the ‘raison d’être’ of the creation, production and distribution of books.
• With regard to the exceptions, EBF and FEP agree that they cannot replace the legal acquisition of books, but offer additional uses (hence the rationale for excluding textbooks from the scope of exceptions for education). Extending the scope of existing exceptions is not the way forward towards providing effective and fast access to those who require it. Promotion of trust and collaboration between the parties in such cases (including public / private partnerships) is, in our view, the best way to enhance dissemination and access to content.
• The free online availability of books through libraries, outside of contractual licensing, would represent unfair competition for booksellers and threaten the whole book economy. Contractual arrangements are the best way to achieve the final aim of enhanced access to content.

In France, the French branch of Europeana, Gallica 2, directs users towards an aggregator (an online seller) where copyright-protected books can be purchased.

• On education, the exception of works for teaching should not be widened. In order for the educational book sector to enjoy sufficient room to develop, textbooks cannot be included in the exception.
• Publishers and booksellers are aware of the importance of providing accessible content for people with a disability. However, the reopening of the exception for the benefit of people with a disability will not improve access. Instead, collaboration between publishers, intermediaries and end users should be fostered either by European projects or by facilitating national voluntary agreements.

Moreover, the real goal is to make a majority of the books published accessible / adaptable from the outset so that persons with reading disabilities can have access to all books when these are published and no longer need to access them through institutions serving them, but directly through online retailers or high-street booksellers.

If the European Institutions want to “ensure that the benefits of the information society can be enjoyed by everyone, including people who are disadvantaged due to limited resources or education, age, gender, ethnicity, etc. (eInclusion), people with disabilities (e-Accessibility)”, … (DG Infso website), the points mentioned above should be taken into
account.

The book industry is a key element in a vast chain of activities and professions, and plays an important role in the economic, social and cultural development of the European Union and in the world as a whole.
The book sector offers diverse content and thus is a key driver of cultural diversity, which is so crucial for European cohesion and development.

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November 2008

EBF statement on the Association of American Publishers, Authors' Guild, Google settlement agreement

The European Booksellers Federation, on behalf of its membership, makes the following comments in response to the announcement in the US by the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and Google on 28th October 2008 of a settlement that would expand online access to millions of in-copyright books and other written materials in the US from the collections of a number of major U.S. libraries participating in Google Book Search.

Google is an undisputed global leader in content provision and has revolutionised
accessibility of content across our planet and for this, and other ground breaking digital
development, it must be applauded.

In respect of its latest announcement, and other announcements that have been in support of it, the EBF does wish to express some clear concerns:

As such a dominant player in the online world, Google will occupy a unique gateway position that, if abused, will inevitably create a de facto monopoly. A situation where competition is removed from the market place by such a dominant player cannot, ultimately, be good for the consumer and would be highly damaging for cultural diversity in the European Union, if Google was planning to extend its policy in the US to Europe.

As pointed out by one of EBF's Members, the agreement is like a Trojan horse on which
Google advances to take over the worldwide dissemination of knowledge and culture "...
this amounts to an expropriation of authors through the backdoor. The issue is not to acquire the inalienable rights of authors through a “golden hand shake“". The only way in which an author can guard his or her rights under the proposed settlement is to register the works of which he or she is the originator in a catalogue of book rights. This procedure, we believe, is likely to run contrary to the key provisions within European copyright law.

Furthermore, this agreement appears to be in direct contradiction of a statement made to
EBF by Google in 2005 saying that their sole revenue stream was for advertising revenues
placed next to book excerpts, and that the revenues were to be shared with publishers.
Google said at the time that their mission of objectivity did not allow them to participate in any affiliate or revenue share model with any linked retailer.

If approved by the US court, the agreement will give Google the ability to benefit financially
from digitised content. They will effectively become an online retailer.

Many booksellers in Europe are either active partners in the digital world of books already or are in the process of developing new digital initiatives. While the zeal of embracing the new is adopted by those who supply content, it could result in the short term ‘starvation’ of the traditional bookseller. Consumers would be denied long-term channel choice as well as the customer experience of knowledgeable and interactive bookselling that does so much to build the debut author, the little known poet, and the niche writer. While no bricks and mortar bookseller can afford to ignore the digital world, or indeed not to participate in it, it is the EBF’s belief that the ‘one-stop shop’ direct-to-consumer approach of Google will inevitably result in a bookselling world that is culturally poorer for readers.

EBF would like to emphasise that online progress is warmly welcomed by its membership but believes that this recent agreement, if ever adopted in the European Union, is not only a breach of the 2005 statement from Google but will also have a hugely damaging effect on
European cultural diversity and on the book chain, namely, authors, publishers, booksellers
and, it goes without saying, European readers. EBF believes that Google would be in a
dominant position, which could be easily abused.

We urge all those who have influence in these matters to resist any similar agreements being introduced into the European Union.

Brussels, 12 November 2008
For further information, please contact eurobooks@skynet.be or + 32 2 223 49 40

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09 May 2008 

EBF reply to the consultation on reduced VAT rates

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28 February 2008  

EBF comments to the Commission Communication on Creative Content Online in the Single Market

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