NEW YORK / RankWire.AI / – Three leading U.S. publishing companies have filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing the tech giant of copyright infringement related to its Gemini artificial intelligence platform. Hachette Book Group, Cengage Learning, and Elsevier submitted a proposed class action along with author Scott Turow and his organization, S.C.R.I.B.E. The complaint was filed on July 10 in a federal court in New York, alleging Google copied millions of copyrighted books and journal articles without authorization during the development and training of Gemini models.
The plaintiffs claim Google acquired materials through Google Books, Google Play Books, and Google Scholar. The complaint states that publishers and authors provided works to support search, sales, and research services, but these arrangements did not permit Google to reproduce the works for commercial AI training. It further accuses Google of using web-scraped datasets that included content from pirate sites and subscription services behind paywalls.
Google faces four allegations outlined in the 57-page complaint. Three of these pertain to illegal reproduction through Google services, web scraping, and the development or training of Gemini. The fourth involves violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, specifically alleging Google removed or altered copyright management information, including author names, ownership details, and publication data. As of July 15, the court had yet to rule on these claims or grant class-action status.
Four Allegations Concerning Gemini Data Use
The proposed class action covers owners of registered U.S. copyrights in books and journal articles. Eligible works must have an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) for books or a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) or International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) for articles. This definition pertains to works Google is alleged to have copied from its services, downloaded via web scraping, or reproduced during Gemini’s development. Eligibility is also limited to works registered within the deadlines specified in the complaint.
The complaint cites examples from Hachette, Cengage, and Elsevier as works allegedly copied. It encompasses fiction, textbooks, and scholarly publications. Additionally, the filing references internal Google assessments regarding legal risks linked to publisher-provided books. One internal report warned of potential fines between $10 billion and $100 billion, according to the plaintiffs. The court has not yet issued any ruling on these internal documents.
Plaintiffs Demand Compensation and Transparency
The plaintiffs seek statutory or actual damages, along with profits from any proven infringement. They also request an injunction, legal costs, and a jury trial. Their proposed order would compel Google to disclose the materials and methods used to train Gemini. Additionally, they ask the court to oversee the destruction of any unauthorized copies under Google’s control. The complaint does not specify a total amount for damages sought.
This New York case follows a prior effort by Hachette and Cengage to join separate copyright litigation involving Google AI in California. The Association of American Publishers indicated that the new lawsuit preserves claims outside the scope of that case’s proposed class. The current lawsuit includes Elsevier, Turow, and S.C.R.I.B.E., alongside the two publishers. It requests the New York court to examine whether Google’s Gemini training practices and data collection methods infringe upon federal copyright law and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.