Google just announced that it's reached an agreement with French Publishers, which will enable it to scan out of print French books as it has been doing with American titles. But the agreement comes amidst ongoing disputes in the U.S. and in other European countries over the company's book digitizing practices. In the U.S. Google has come under fire and is undergoing a lawsuit for scanning out of print books which still have valid copyright.

Prior to the deal, a French publishers' group and an authors' group had filed a lawsuit against Google on the grounds of copyright infringement. The new agreement gives French publishers control over which books will be scanned and made available on Google's data base. The books would be available on Google's digital content store but still gives publishers the right to sell their books elsewhere as well. 

France is now the first country that has a book-scanning agreement for books that are out of print with Google. Most of the world's books have unexpired copyright even if they are no longer in print. Two French publishers had already come to a seperate agreement with the company but this latest agreement is industry-wide. The publishers' association that came to the agreement with Google represents 600 publishers. 

While, Google's "Library Project" is stymied by the U.S. lawsuit, the agreement in France could make way for other European countries to strike a similar deal with the company.

"Our hope is that these path-breaking partnerships will help jump-start the emerging French electronic book market," said Philippe Colombet, head of Google Books France. The e-book industry has yet to flourish in France and much of Europe because of copyright and other related disputes.