The latest to emerge from France’s efforts to fight illegal file-sharing has been the proposal of a new tax on Google and other internet portals that engage in the free online reproduction of books. The French Society of Authors and Composers, SACD, has praised the idea as “audacious and pertinent.”

Last month a French judge ruled that Google pay $458,000 USD in damages to French publisher La Martiniere for unauthorized reproduction of copyrighted works without compensation.  Google was ordered to pay $15,275 USD per day until it removed all extracts of the books from its online Google Books database.

Google France’s public affairs director said the company has stated that it wanted “co-operation between internet players and the cultural fields to develop new models”.