DC Comics has pledged its opposition to a book scanning project from search engine company Google Inc.

As part of the initiative, Google plans to make digital copies of books that are no longer commercially available, but covered under copyright law. The converted literature will be previewed and sold online, unless the author objects.

According to the Superman publisher, copyright holders will suffer as a result of the project. “Access to millions of works will be consolidated into one company,” DC said in a court filing last year. “All of this access comes at an enormous cost to the fish caught within the net – the copyright owners.”

Google has already struck up a deal with US publisher and author groups, but also faces opposition from rival firms Yahoo and Microsoft, as well as the French government, who believe that the initiative violates international copyright law.

With the deadline for objections passing today, US district judge Denny Chin has scheduled an October 7 hearing for the case. The American Justice Department has until September 18 to state whether the agreement breaches antitrust law.