Google (GOOG) and the American Association of Publishers on Thursday announced that they have reached a settlement agreement that will end seven years of litigation over the Internet giant’s digital library project. The agreement settles a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against Google in 2005 by five AAP members that asserted that Google violated publisher copyrights by scanning and posting books and journals online. Under the settlement agreements, publishers now have the option to opt out or make their work available to the Google Library Project.
“Google is a company that puts innovation front and center with all that it does,” said David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer and SVP of corporate development. “By putting this litigation with the publishers behind us, we can stay focused on our core mission and work to increase the number of books available to educate, excite and entertain our users via Google Play.”
