Google has been sued by a Chinese novelist for scanning her latest novel "Acid House" into its controversial online library without permission.

Counterculture writer Mian Mian, whose stories focus on sex and drugs, wants £6,000 in damages and a public apology, according to her lawyer Sun Jingwei.

He said following a two-hour hearing in the author's absence, a Beijing judge told both sides to report back after holding settlement talks without setting a deadline, and that a negotiated settlement was a possibility.

Google removed Mian Mian's works as soon it learned of the lawsuit, a spokeswoman said, but Sun said the author was not satisfied.

"We think even if they remove Mian Mian's work, their previous behaviour is a violation of her rights. We demand a public apology," he said.

The US internet company has scanned more than 10 million books into its online library as part of its drive to make material available on the web, but many of those are still under copyright.

A Chinese government-affiliated group, known as the China Written Works Copyright Society, has demanded Google compensate authors from China whose work was scanned.

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