14 DAY TRIAL // Google and the French publisher Hachette Livre have reached a deal pertaining to out-of-print books from the publisher. The deal will enable Google to scan and sell the books the publisher agrees to with a revenue split. The deal is non-exclusive, but is a welcomed relief for Google in a country which hasn't taken lightly the company's efforts to scan copyrighted books.
The deal is significantly more restrictive than the one Google reached with US publishers, which hasn't been approved yet by the court, and favors Hachette.
Under the deal, Google will be allowed to scan certain books and offer them for sale in Books. The publisher decides which books can be scanned and which can be made available for search.
Normally, books that have been scanned by Google but are not freely available to users can still be searched in their entirety.
The deal only refers to out-of-print books, titles that are still under copyright but which are not available for sale from publishers. In this case, only about 50,000 titles are estimated to be covered by the deal.
The French publisher will get a copy of each book scanned and has the right to sell those copies to other partners.
Still, it's an important step forward for Google which has run into trouble with the Books program in France. Several publishers sued the company for copyright infringement for scanning their books.
A French court sided with the publishers and Google is now appealing the ruling. Other publishers have filed a separate lawsuit. The deal with Hachette does not affect the lawsuits and doesn't prohibit the French company from suing Google for past transgressions.
The company has also been met with resistance from the government and other organizations in France. President Nicolas Sarkozy even promised to create a local book scanning project which, ironically or not, had to appeal to Google for technical expertise.