PARIS - Google has gone on trial in Paris over accusations by French writers and publishers who say it should request permission before putting book excerpts online.
Google France lawyer Benjamin du Chaffaut defended Google's publication of excerpts of copyrighted material. He said only works in the public domain or those whose authors have granted permission are available in full online.
A lawyer for one of three plaintiffs in Thursday's trial, Valerie Barthez of the Writers' Society, said using select excerpts without permission "is a bad representation of the works."
A verdict is expected by Dec. 18.
Mountain View, California-based Google has faced copyright lawsuits in the United States contesting its plans to make millions of books searchable and available for purchase online.
