Google books pact under scrutiny

The Justice Department confirmed on Thursday that it was conducting an antitrust investigation into the settlement of a lawsuit that groups representing authors and publishers filed against Google.

In a letter to the federal judge charged with reviewing the settlement, the Justice Department said it was reviewing concerns that the agreement could violate the Sherman Antitrust Act.

The $125 million settlement agreement, which was signed in October and is subject to review by a federal court, was intended to resolve a class action lawsuit filed in 2005 by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers against Google. In the suit, the authors and publishers said Google's plan to digitize millions of books from libraries and make them available in its Book Search service amounted to a violation of their copyrights.

The settlement would give Google the right to display the books online, and to profit from them by selling access to individual titles and by selling subscriptions to its entire collection to libraries and other institutions. Revenue would be shared among Google, authors and publishers.