What does France have against Google?
(1) Maybe it.s revenge because the Internet sent Minitel, an early French network service, the way of the Betamax tape into the technology graveyard. Possibly, it’s something to do with that inflammatory Google parody showing a faux-search for French military victories. that came up with zero results (Did you mean: French military defeats?) Whatever the reason, Google, the world’s largest search engine, has been taking a beating lately in France, legally and culturally. Things look très mauvais for the company in France. A recent phrase in the French press, .omnigooglisation, has even come to be shorthand for America’s digital-culture imperialism. Is Google the new Iraq or just the new Disney?
(2) The battle began in October when a court in Nanterre fined Google $75,000 for trademark violation of a French online tour operator (Bourse des Vols). Similar cases followed, with courts finding in favour of Le Meridien hotels in mid-December and on February 4 awarding chichi designer Louis Vuitton $250,000 in its case against Google. The court, in all three suits, found that the practice of letting competitors bid to have their adverts appear when keywords containing trademarked words or phrases came up violated trademark law.
(3) President Chirac has met with the French Culture Minister and the head of the National Library, M.Jeanneney, to ask them to analyse the conditions under which the collections of the great libraries in France and Europe could be put more widely and rapidly on the Internet. The plan is a direct response to Google’s current pet project: putting the collections of some of the world’s best libraries online. They are taking around 15 million works from collections at Harvard, Stanford, Oxford and the New York Public Library and creating a virtual library. While these great collections do contain non-English works, France is worried that yet again. English prose and bias will dominate and France’s bons mots will, hélas, become but quaint oddities. In December, French library guru Jeanneney said it would be deleterious and detestable for the image of France if the most popular texts about the French Revolution were written by native English speakers.
(4) He is determined to get one-up on Google and create a searchable French library. You can bet Victor Hugo will appear more prominently than Mark Twain. The move is reminiscent of the much scoffed at radio quota law France passed in 1994 requiring at least 40% of recorded music on French radio be in French. France also has similarly strict laws to defend its film and publishing industries from the Anglo-onslaught. In truth, France does have its own mini virtual library called Gallica which has about 80,000 French-chosen works available online. The project, however, is but a David compared to the Google Goliath.
(5) France has a long history of protecting its culture from American influence. As for the tension over digital libraries, Google says that Europe must ultimately do the same thing and that it is really very supportive. They don’t view it as if it’s a war, but it’s clear the French see it that way.
