New terms reached in Google book suit

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- An amended settlement between Google and U.S. publishers would allow others to compete with its planned digital library of out-of-print books, analysts say.

The original settlement struck between the Internet giant and the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers drew government criticism that it didn't do enough to protect the copyrights of authors and their heirs to proper compensation. But a new settlement filed Friday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco may change that, The New York Times reported.

The settlement is being hammered out to resolve a 2005 lawsuit over Google's plans to digitize out-of-print books from major American libraries.

The newspaper said the revisions mostly address "orphan" works whose rights holders are unknown or can't be found. The proposal would set up a compensation system designed to make it easier for companies other than Google to offer their own digitized versions of older library books. The Times said under the deal, a provision criticized as ensuring that no other company got a better deal with authors and publishers than Google's was dropped.

Google's catalog would also reportedly be limited to books published in the United States, Britain, Australia or Canada.