背景资料:

从2004年开始，谷歌的数字图书馆未经授权扫描了全球大量的书籍作为电子书，其中涉及中国570位权利人，更包含天津冯骥才、蒋子龙等多位知名作家。

Google provides list of digital books

There have been three rounds of talks between Google and Chinese writers whose works were copied by the Internet giant without authorization. The fourth round of talks is expected to begin soon. Discussions are likely to touch upon more essential points of the issue.

Over eighty thousand Chinese books are on the list of Google's digital library. Authors who devoted time and effort in writing the books, are criticizing Google for digitally publishing their work without permission and compensation.

Zhang Hongbo, Director-General of China Written Work Copyright Society, said, "We spent hours going through the list after we got it from Google. It covers a wide area, including the work of famous authors, and scholars."

But the list provided by Google is incomplete. The China Written Work Copyrights Society said works published before 1987 were not included in the list. The Society is urging Google to provide a more accurate list, which would provide key evidence for further negotiations and lawsuits against Google.

The recent step taken by Google was a sign it was beginning to cooperate with the demands of the Society, which represents infringed writers. The company has denied any activities of copyright infringement in its first two talks with Chinese authors last month. But it showed signs of reconciliation during the recent round.

Zhang said, "Google expressed strong willingness to reconcile with Chinese authors. That means it doesn't want to follow its path in the US, which involved a four-year lawsuit."

Google's blueprint for its digital library has attracted a lot of criticism. It's been involved in copyright disputes and lawsuits in a number of countries, including the US and France.

The giant search engine pledged to pay 60 US dollars to the authors whose books were placed online, and promised that 63 percent of future sales, will go to the authors. But many writers are unaware that their books have been digitalized onto Google's library.

Chinese authors have demanded a solution, an apology and compensation from Google.