By Siobhan O’Leary
As first reported in Der Spiegel, SPD (Social Democratic Party) politician Sebastian Edathy is calling for the formation of a voluntary rating system for the book trade, similar to what exists in the film industry, to identify writings that glorify Nazism or right-wing extremist titles and prevent them from being disseminated, reported Borsenblatt.
BuchMarkt follows up on the report in the Bookseller stating that the EU regulatory body will interview publishers and authors about the ramifications of the Google Settlement on European copyright. A meeting is scheduled for September 9th, though the Boersenverein’s legal advisor, Dr. Christian Sprang, has said he fears that this is not soon enough.
Mobile manga, already a huge market in Japan and making inroads in the US, is now available in Germany. Tokyopop and Fox Mobile Distribution are offering three manga titles downloadable to mobile phones exclusively on Jamba.de. Tokyopop Germany’s Managing Director Joachim Kaps told buchreport.de that the initial sales make him optimistic. Jamba has a six-month window of exclusivity before the content can be offered elsewhere.