Not so fast
It's all go in the world of electronic book publishing today as the EU has announced it will hold a hearing on 7 September to allow interested parties to comment on the deal Google struck with US authors and publishers last October, according to the Wall Street Journal.
This new comes hot on the heels of the announcement by US book-seller Barnes & Noble, that it would be offering the Google Books collection of half a million out-of-copyright books in its new eBookstore.
The Google Books settlement is already being sniffed around by US antitrust authorities and the litigation-hungry European authorities were never likely to let such an opportunity pass without at least a bit of a look.
"What's currently planned is a fact-finding exercise by the Commission - not an investigation - and we're looking forward to taking part," Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker told the WSJ.
There seems to be a growing climate of scrutiny towards Google as it continues to expand its areas of interest. Christine Varney, who was appointed as the US assistant attorney general for antitrust, has openly stated her concerns about Google in the past and Google's increasing forays into the OS market are making it look like this decade's Microsoft.
