Google bends as book search deal deadline passes

Look, we all know the feeling.

You strike a $125 million deal giving you access to millions of out-of-print books, but it needs to be signed off by a federal judge. I mean, how frustrating! Well, that's just where Web search giant Google (GOOG) finds itself as the deadline expires at 10 a.m. Tuesday for submitting briefs to the court regarding its controversial book search deal with the Authors Guild and others.

In an indication of just how badly Google wants to get this deal done, the company has made two concessions in recent days in an effort to placate critics who charge that the deal would give Google wildly inappropriate power in the burgeoning market for digital books.