And Google’s lawyer Alexandra Neri has a ballsy response: “We don’t deny that Editions du Seuil holds the rights to distribution on paper. But they have never shown that they hold the right to electronic copies.”

Google struck a truce with US publishers last year, but their settlement was due to go before a “fairness hearing” in a Manhattan federal court on October 7. But this was dealt a blow, and postponed, last week when America’s Department Of Justice asked the court to reject the plan because it would require significant changes to copyright.

Google and European publishers seem to be speaking in two different languages at the moment. Many European states don’t even have in their statutes the kind of fair-use provision that Google is using to defend its ambitions.

Germany’s government had also this month asked the New York court to reject the settlement that was scheduled to be heard.

But, in a rare show of support to a US megacorp, Europe’s media commissioner Vivianne Reding is backing Google Books - part of her crusade to turn Europe’s patchwork IP and licencing regime in order to digitise the continent’s libraries, create a bloc-wide digital downloads economy and more.

Google earlier this month pledged to seek permission before making European publishers’ works available to US audiences.