Amazon: Google deal is dangerous

Internet retailer Amazon has dubbed Google's deal to digitise books "dangerous".

Under the controversial proposed settlement with the Association of American Publishers and the Authors' Guild, Google would get the rights to digitise millions of books under copyright in a £76.2 million deal ($125m).

Amazon, which also scans books, said in an American court filing that it was a dangerous precedent that could damage innovation and pose problems for copyright law.

Its 41-page filing with a New York federal court stated: "The proposed settlement usurps the role of Congress in legislating solutions to the complex issues raised by the interplay between new technologies and the nation's copyright laws."

The company said the situation was a potential "cartel structure that leaves the public susceptible to abuses".

"The problem with the proposed settlement from an antitrust perspective is that it rushes to create this cartel while avoiding all restrictions that would cage its power to prevent harm to the public interest," it said.

"The proposed settlement creates a pricing mechanism that is fraught with the dangers associated with price-fixing."

Amazon's move has lent weight to opposition from the Open Book Alliance, which criticises the deal.