A round-up of today's technology news in brief

EU to respond to Google book scanning move

The EU plans to change copyright rules that have prevented the bloc’s internet companies from competing with Google’s book-scanning service.

Viviane Reding, European media commissioner, said common EU rules are needed so companies can provide an alternative to Google’s web-based book publication service. Ms Reding said she understood “the fears of many publishers and librarians facing the market power of Google”. Internet companies are frustrated by the “fragmented regulatory system in Europe”, she said in Brussels yesterday.

Ms Reding’s call for harmonised rules follows complaints from German authors that Google was violating copyright laws by allowing their works to be viewed online free of charge and without previous author approval.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, is creating an online book database by scanning millions of titles from libraries. The company reached a $125 million deal with publishers last year to settle copyright issues.

The US Justice Department began an antitrust probe last month of the settlement, which could make Google the main online source for millions of out-of-print books.

“Book digitisation projects send a strong signal that authors, publishers, libraries and technology companies can work together to bring back to life the world’s lost books,” Santiago de la Mora, Google’s head of European book partnerships, said in a statement.

Germany asked European regulators in May to look into how the settlement, which must be reviewed by a US federal court, affects authors’ rights in the EU.

Ms Reding said 90 per cent of books in Europe’s national libraries are no longer commercially available for scanning. That’s because they are either out of print or so-called orphan books, titles for which no one can be identified to give permission for digital use, she said.

She proposed a registry to allow authors get “fair remuneration” for online publications.

New platform for pitching ideas

A new website will allow Irish entrepreneurs pitch their business by video to people who might be in a position to fund their enterprise.

The website, cmypitch.ie, will also give entrepreneurs the chance to pick up tips from experienced Irish and international figures like Eddie Jordan and James Caan.

Emmet Kilduff, founder and chief executive of the platform, said Irish entreprenuers, unlike counterparts in the UK and the US, have little formal access to wealthy individuals known as angels – people with the interest and resources to fund fledgling ideas.

Cmypitch.ie follows on from a similar business Mr Kilduff has already established in the UK. The Irish project has been launched in partnership with Microsoft, Deloitte, Bank of Scotland (Ireland), William Fry and The Irish Times.