Google is to make concessions to European publishers and authors in an effort to stem a rising tide of anger in Europe over its landmark digital books settlement in the US.
The company has agreed to have two non-US representatives sit on the governing board of the registry that will administer the settlement, according to a letter sent to 16 European Union publishers' representatives at the weekend, a copy of which was seen by the Financial Times.
Google, which aims to digitize millions of books to make them searchable through its search engine, declined to comment. But according to the letter seen by the FT it is also promising to consult European publishers before cataloguing some European works in its new digital library.