On Tuesday October 28, 2008 Google announced a settlement plan for the suits filed by the AAP and the Authors' Guild.

"Today we're delighted to announce that we've settled that lawsuit and will be working closely with these industry partners to bring even more of the world's books online. Together we'll accomplish far more than any of us could have individually, to the enduring benefit of authors, publishers, researchers and readers alike. It will take some time for this agreement to be approved and finalized by the Court. "

Google also announced that libraries, universities and other organizations will be offered the ability to purchase institutional subscriptions. This will provide users access to the complete text of millions of titles while compensating authors and publishers for the service. Students and researchers will have access to an electronic library that combines the collections from many of the top universities across the country. Public and university libraries in the U.S. will also be able to offer terminals where readers can access the full text of millions of out-of-print books for free.

To see the proposed agreement see:  http://books.google.com/googlebooks/agreement/. 

Click here to see the press release: 

http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/pressrel/20081027_booksearchagreement.html

For further discussion on the Google Book Search Agreement see Larry Lessig's blog entry.