The head of the U.S. Copyright Office told Congress on Thursday that she had serious concerns about Google Inc.'s (GOOG) legal settlement with authors and publishers who sought to block the company from scanning books and making them searchable online.

Marybeth Peters, the register of copyrights, said in written testimony before the House Judiciary Committee that the Copyright Office was particularly concerned that the settlement would allow Google to display and distribute out-of-print books without prior consent from the copyright owners of those books.

"To allow a commercial entity to sell such works without consent is an end-run around copyright law as we know it," Peters said.

"In the view of the Copyright Office, the settlement proposed by the parties would encroach on responsibility for copyright policy that traditionally has been the domain of Congress," she said.

Google reached the settlement deal last year, agreeing to pay $125 million to establish a registry to allow authors and publishers to register their works and get paid when their titles are viewed online.

The settlement must be approved by a New York federal judge, who has scheduled a hearing for Oct. 7 to consider the matter. Supporters and critics of the settlement have flooded the court with comments on the pending agreement.

Antitrust regulators at the U.S. Department of Justice also are looking at the settlement. The judge has set a Sept. 18 deadline for the department to file its views with the court.

The House Judiciary Committee heard Thursday from several supporters and critics of the Google book search settlement.

Google's chief legal officer, David Drummond, appeared before the committee to defend the deal, saying the agreement was fully compliant with copyright law.

Paul Misener, Amazon.com Inc.'s (AMZN) vice president for global public policy, continued the online bookseller's attack on the settlement, telling Congress that the deal would have enduring negative consequences for consumers and Google's competitors.

Amazon filed a brief in the New York court last week, arguing that the agreement would increase how much consumers pay for digital books and undermine Congress's role in amending copyright law to address changes in technology.

-By Brent Kendall, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9222; brent.kendall@dowjones.com