Frédéric Mitterrand met with David Drummond, Vice-President and Chief Legal Officer of Google, on Monday, December 7, and explained the focus of his mission to Marc Tessier on the digitization of library heritage holdings.

On Monday, December 7, the Minister of Culture and Communications received David Drummond, Vice-President and General Counsel of Google.

The Minister wished to discuss the national debate around a possible partnership between the National Library of France and Google for the digitization of heritage books. He said he is not, in principle, hostile to public-private partnerships in this area, but remains sensitive to many of the arguments that have been put forward since last summer to highlight the risks inherent in such cooperation. He recalled France’s attachment to intellectual property rights, and stressed that the question of the digitisation of heritage funds could not be dissociated from the problem raised by the digitisation of copyrighted works, on which he hopes a satisfactory outcome will be found with the French publishers.

The Minister also informed Mr. Drummond that his decision on the possibility of a partnership with a private actor will be made in the light of the report he asked Marc Tessier on the digitization of library heritage funds and the commitments that interested companies by such a project will be able to take. The mission chaired by Marc Tessier will deliver its conclusions before the end of the year.