Melville House Books

State media in China says the Chinese government believes Google has “breached copyright laws by scanning Chinese books for its online library” and is encouraging writers to “defend their rights,” according to a report in The Independent.

The director-general of China’s National Copyright Administration, Wang Ziqiang, says, “I personally think Google is probably involved in copyright infringement. We support Chinese writers, the China Written Works Copyright Society and the Chinese Writers’ Association to defend their rights based on the law and facts.” (See the earlier MobyLives story.)

The Copyright Society says “at least 17,922 books by 570 Chinese authors have been added to Google Books.”

The statements came several days after Google sent a representative to meet with Chinese officials, “but the outcome of the discussions has not been released,” says the Independent report … although these new statements from the Chinese government certainly make it seem as if the outcome has been released.

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.