Hachette and Cengage ask to join a class action against Google, alleging mass copyright infringement to train its AI systems like Gemini.
CALIFORNIA: Publishers Hachette Book Group and Cengage Group have asked a federal court for permission to join a proposed class action lawsuit against Google.
The publishers allege Google misused copyrighted material to train its artificial intelligence systems without permission.
In their proposed complaint, they stated Google “engaged in one of the most prolific infringements of copyrighted materials in history” to build its AI capabilities.
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They claim Google copied content from Hachette books and Cengage textbooks to train its systems.
Spokespeople for Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the publishers’ bid to intervene.
The intervention could significantly increase the potential damages at stake in the case.
Maria Pallante, CEO of the publishers’ trade group the Association of American Publishers, supported the move.
“We believe our participation will bolster the case,” Pallante said in a statement.
She added that publishers are “uniquely positioned to address many of the legal, factual, and evidentiary questions before the Court.”
The existing lawsuit involves a group of visual artists who sued Google for allegedly misusing their work to train an AI image generator.
This case is among many high-stakes lawsuits brought by artists, authors, and music labels against tech companies over AI training.
Last year, AI company Anthropic settled a similar lawsuit for USD 1.5 billion with a group of authors.
The publishers cited 10 examples of their textbooks and books that Google allegedly misused.
Cited authors include Scott Turow and N.K. Jemisin, whose works were allegedly used to train Google’s Gemini large language model.
They are asking the court for an unspecified amount of monetary damages on behalf of themselves and a larger class.
The damages would be for authors and publishers whose works were allegedly used without permission.
U.S. District Judge Eumi Lee will decide whether to approve the publishers’ request to join the case. – Reuters
