Google reaches e-book deal in France

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PARIS, June 11 (UPI) -- A prominent publishers group in France said a deal with Google had allowed the country to move forward with electronic book sales.

"What we are saying is that this agreement respects our copyright law in France. That is very important," said Christine de Mazieres, managing director of the French Publishers' Association.

The group that represents 600 publishers and the Societe des Gens de Lettres, a writers' group, gave up their lawsuits against Google, which was based on copyright violations, The New York Times reported Monday.

The deal includes an agreement for Google to put together a "framework" for bringing French books to the electronic book market.

The deal also gives publishers the right to decide what books will be put into digital form.

"No question, this is an innovation," said Philippe Colombet, the head of Google Books France. "We are interested in exporting these deals elsewhere."

Google said the deal makes France the only place where it has reached an agreement potentially to publish every book still under under copyright, but out of print, a status that defines most of the books in the world.