NEW YORK / RankWire.AI / – Three leading U.S. publishers have filed a lawsuit against Google, alleging copyright infringement related to its Gemini artificial intelligence platform. Hachette Book Group, Cengage Learning, and Elsevier initiated 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 copied millions of copyrighted works, including books and journal articles, without authorization during the development and training of Gemini models.
According to the plaintiffs, Google acquired material through services such as Google Books, Google Play Books, and Google Scholar. Publishers and authors had provided these works to facilitate search, sales, and research functions, as outlined in the complaint. The filing asserts that these arrangements did not grant Google permission to reproduce the works for commercial AI training purposes. Additionally, Google is accused of using web-scraped datasets that included content from pirate sites and subscription-based services protected behind paywalls.
Google faces four allegations in the 57-page complaint. Three of these claims involve unlawful reproduction via Google services, web scraping, and the training or development of Gemini. The fourth allegation pertains to violations of 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 has yet to rule on these claims or grant class-action status.
Four Allegations Focus on Gemini Training Data
The proposed class includes individuals or entities holding registered U.S. copyrights in books and journal articles. Eligible books must have an International Standard Book Number, and qualifying articles should possess a Digital Object Identifier or International Standard Serial Number. This definition covers works that Google allegedly copied from its services, obtained through web scraping, or reproduced during the development of Gemini. The class also limits eligibility to works registered within the deadlines specified in the complaint.
The complaint cites examples from Hachette, Cengage, and Elsevier as instances of the alleged copying. It encompasses fiction, textbooks, and scholarly publications among the impacted categories. The filing further references internal Google evaluations concerning legal risks associated with publisher-provided books. One such assessment reportedly warned of potential fines ranging from $10 billion to $100 billion, according to the plaintiffs. The court has not issued any rulings regarding these internal documents.
Claimants Demand Damages and Transparency
The plaintiffs seek statutory damages or actual damages, along with profits from any proven infringement. They also request an injunction, legal fees, and a jury trial. Their proposed order would compel Google to identify the materials and methods used to train Gemini. The complaint additionally calls for court supervision over the destruction of any unauthorized copies under Google’s control. The total amount of damages sought is not specified in the filing.
This New York action follows an earlier attempt by Hachette and Cengage to join separate Google AI copyright litigation in California. The Association of American Publishers indicated that the new case preserves claims outside the scope of that proceeding’s proposed class. The current lawsuit includes Elsevier, Turow, and S.C.R.I.B.E., alongside the two publishers. It asks the New York court to determine whether Google’s Gemini training methods and data collection practices violate federal copyright law and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.