By Edward Nawotka

EC commissioner Viviane Reding, is reconsidering copyright rules

The European Commission is looking at ways to alter existing copyright law to make it easier for users to post digital copies of “orphan” works — those books with no apparent copyright holder. The new proposals “could also make it easier to acquire a single digital copyright covering the European Union, rather than having to deal with agencies in each of its member states,” says the New York Times.

PW reports, “Lagardere, which earlier this year reported an 11% increase in sales in its book publishing group to just over billion euros, said Thursday that recurring EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) before associates jumped 61.1% to 112 million euros.” Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series continued to drive much of the group’s sales, particularly in the US, UK, Australia and France.

In the US, Bloomsbury also had some good news, with sales rising “36% in the first half of 2009, to £8.7 million ($14 million at current exchange rates), and the company managed to eke out an operating profit of £30,000 compared to a loss of £400,000 in the first half of 2008,” says PW.