PARIS — Even as a dispute over Google’s digital book project deepens in the United States, the Internet company said Monday that it had reached an agreement in France that could bring back to life thousands of out-of-print works.

The French Publishers’ Association and the Societe des Gens de Lettres, an authors’ group, dropped lawsuits in which they contended that Google’s book-scanning here violated copyright. Google agreed to set up a ‘‘framework’’ agreement under which publishers would be able to offer digital versions of their works for Google to sell.

While e-book sales have surged in the United States, they have been held back in France, and across much of Europe, by disputes over rights and other issues.

The deal is modeled on agreements that Google struck separately with two leading French publishers, Hachette and La Martiniere. The publishers retain control over many conditions of the book-scanning project.

It is also a key difference with bids to settle US litigation over Google’s book scanning. In those talks, the court last year dismissed a $125 million settlement proposal.