from www.courthousenews.com – Google has settled claims by French publisher La Martiniere that it violated copyright by publishing books online.

Major French publisher La Martiniere Groupe, joined by a French publishing association and a writers’ guild, had alleged that the tech giant made unauthorized digital versions of copyright material available through Google Books.

A French court ordered Google to pay 300,000 euros ($432,000) to La Martiniere in 2009 for the unauthorized digitizing. Google appealed, but has now settled, before the case went to hearing again.

A Google manager described the agreement as a partnership intended to breathe new life into out-of-print books, and as part of a larger project to “make cultural works more widely discoverable online.”

A spokesperson for La Martiniere is reported to have said that Google acceded to all of its demands.

The agreement echoes another partnership from last year, between Google and Hachette Livre, France’s largest publishing company, which had also sued over copyright.

Three other French publishers sued Google about three months ago, demanding more than $14 billion for alleged copyright infringement.

The two other parties that had sued along with La Martiniere were not a part of the present agreement. Their claims, along with the May lawsuit, are still pending.