The Alex e-reader is getting some content thanks to Google (NSDQ: GOOG). Just ahead of CES, parent company Spring Design has partnered with Google so that users of its device will be able to directly access more than one million public domain e-books via Google Books. Several other e-reader manufacturers boast similar agreements. Sony (NYSE: SNE) and Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS), for instance, both offer access to Google’s public domain books via their respective e-book stores.

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Spring Design’s deal with Google, however, gives some heft to the company’s plans for the Alex. When Spring Design announced the Alex back in October, there was some speculation that Spring Design had rushed the announcement solely in order to protect its intellectual property—and wasn’t actually planning to bring the device to market. Soon afterwards, Spring Design sued Barnes & Noble, saying that Barnes & Noble had copied some of Alex’s features in the design of its own e-reader.