Despite growing legal pressure from publishers and authors, Google Inc. said it plans to resume scanning copyrighted books in the collections of Stanford University and the University of Michigan. The company suspended its scanning of copyrighted books in libraries until today in order to give publishers time to request that their works not be scanned. Google also said it will focus on scanning copyrighted works that are out of print and is seeking publishers' permission to digitize books that are still available new from bookstores. The company hadn't publicly disclosed that it was targeting out-of-print works for its initial scanning efforts although it says that was always its policy. That distinction could strengthen its argument that the project won't negatively affect book sales. But it isn't likely to lead the two groups suing Google over the Print Library Project to back down. Publishers and authors suing the company suggest that Google's focus on scanning out-of-print works isn't likely to soften their legal opposition to it. Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild, said his trade group doesn't intend to withdraw the suit it filed in September against Google in U.S. District Court in New York alleging that the search company is violating copyright.

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