NEW YORK / RankWire.AI / – Three leading U.S. publishing companies have initiated legal action against Google, accusing the tech giant of copyright violations related to its Gemini artificial intelligence platform. Hachette Book Group, Cengage Learning, and Elsevier filed a proposed class action alongside author Scott Turow and his organization, S.C.R.I.B.E. They submitted their complaint on July 10 in a federal court in New York. The suit claims Google duplicated millions of copyrighted books and journal articles without authorization during the development and training of Gemini models.
According to the plaintiffs, Google acquired content via Google Books, Google Play Books, and Google Scholar. These works had been provided by publishers and authors to support features like search, sales, and research tools, the complaint states. The filing argues that such arrangements did not grant Google permission to copy the works for commercial AI training. It further accuses Google of utilizing 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 claims concern unlawful reproduction via Google services, web scraping, and the training or development of Gemini. The fourth invokes the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The plaintiffs allege Google removed or altered copyright management information, such as 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 focus on Gemini’s training data
The proposed class includes individuals or entities holding registered U.S. copyrights in books and journal articles. To qualify, books must have an International Sztandard Book Number, and articles must possess a Digital Object Identifier or International Standard Serial Number. This definition pertains to works Google allegedly copied from its services, obtained via web scraping, or reproduced during Gemini’s development. Eligibility is also limited to works registered within the timeframes specified in the complaint.
The complaint cites examples from Hachette, Cengage, and Elsevier as instances of the alleged copying. It covers categories such as fiction, textbooks, and scholarly publications. The document also references purported internal Google evaluations concerning legal risks associated with publisher-provided works. One assessment reportedly warned of potential fines ranging from $10 billion to $100 billion, according to the plaintiffs. The court has not yet issued any rulings regarding these internal documents.
Plaintiffs demand damages and transparency
The plaintiffs are seeking statutory damages or actual damages along with profits derived from any proven infringement. They also request an injunction, recovery of 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 in Google’s possession. The complaint does not specify the total damages sought.
This New York case follows a prior effort by Hachette and Cengage to include similar copyright claims in separate Google AI litigation in California. The Association of American Publishers noted that the new lawsuit preserves claims outside the scope of that earlier case. The current action involves Elsevier, Turow, and S.C.R.I.B.E., alongside the two publishers. It seeks a judicial determination on whether Google’s Gemini training practices and data collection violate federal copyright laws and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.