IT and Copyright: Google Books and Hachette Livre team up by signing a cooperation agreement

Google has struck a deal with the leading book publisher of France - Hachette Livre. Under the deal Google receives an opportunity to scan and sale out-of-print French language titles owned by the book publisher.

The agreement covers about 50000 works of French literature and non-fiction, scholarly works and reference books.

Hachette Livre is one of the most zealous defenders of publishers’ rights on Internet. Earlier this year the book publisher withdrew some of its own titles from the database of the Amazon Internet shop; the reason was its disagreement with the shop’s pricing policy. Moreover Hachette Livre has not once displayed its tough attitude towards other companies selling eBooks, and namely Apple.