Google Inc. and two author and publisher groups submitted a narrower version of a legal settlement that would allow Google to distribute millions of digital books online, hoping to mollify the Justice Department and other critics who blasted the original settlement as overly broad and anticompetitive.

The revised settlement will only cover books that were either registered with the U.S. Copyright Office or published in the U.K., Australia, or Canada.

The new agreement also addresses concerns about orphan works, or books whose right holders are unknown, while keeping them in the settlement. The fixes include limiting what is done with the revenue generated from those works and appointing an independent fiduciary to look out for the interests of those rights holders.