Internet search giant Google and five members of the Association of American Publishers (AAP) have worked out a settlement in their 7-year-old lawsuit pertaining to the scanning of copyrighted books in the US.

Despite the fact that the financial terms of the settlement - announced on Thursday - remained undisclosed, the move marks the culmination of October 2005-filed copyright-infringement lawsuit involving Google and 5 AAP publishers --- Penguin Group USA, Pearson Education, Simon & Schuster, McGraw-Hill, and John Wiley & Sons.

As a result of the settlement of the lawsuit with Google, the five publishers - and other publishers in the US - will now be able to either pull their copyrighted works which Google has digitized, or agree on the accessibility of those books and journals through Google's Library Project.

Elaborating on the terms of the settlement with the five publishers, Google - acknowledging the rights of the copyright-holders - said that the publishers who decide against removing their works will have the option of receiving a digital copy of the works for their use.

Meanwhile, expressing satisfaction at the settlement with Google, AAP's chief Tom Allen said the final outcome in the case is a clear indication that "digital services can provide innovative means to discover content while still respecting the rights of copyright-holders."