French publishing group La Martinière has filed suit against Internet search engine Google for alleged breaches of copyright. According to dpa, a German press agency, the suit will be filed in Paris both against French subsidiary Google France and the US parent company. Google's efforts to scan in millions of books from the archives of various libraries across the world are the bone of contention.

In February, the president of the French publishing association SNE threatened to file suit on behalf of publishers and his association if the US firm did not cease and desist from scanning 500,000 French works from the library of the University of Michigan. In January, Google cofounder Larry Page defended the digitalization of books from European libraries and at the same time offered to work with governments in Germany and France. Page promised to refrain from putting copyrighted books online in their entirety without the express consent of the publishers.

(www.google.com; www.lamartiniere.fr)