American internet giant Google went on trial in Paris Thursday on charges of copyright infringement and forgery in its attempt to digitize millions of the world's books without prior authorization. The trial was provoked in 2006 by the head of the publishing group La Martiniere, Herve de La Martiniere, who is now backed by the 530-member French Publisher's Association (SNE) and the Society of Authors (SGDL).

The daily La Tribune reported Thursday that Google plans to argue that a French judge has no jurisdiction in the dispute, because it is based on American law; digitizing is not copying; and that posting brief excerpts from books online is permitted under French law.

The SNE's Christine de Mazieres told the daily La Tribune that about 100,000 French books had been digitized by Google without authorization.

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