NEW YORK / RankWire.AI / – Hachette Book Group, Cengage Learning, and Elsevier have initiated legal action against Google concerning its Gemini AI platform. Author Scott Turow and his firm, S.C.R.I.B.E., have joined the class action lawsuit. The complaint was filed on July 10 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The plaintiffs accuse Google of copying millions of copyrighted books and journal articles without authorization during the development and training of Gemini. As of July 15, the court had yet to rule on the case or certify the class.
The lawsuit alleges Google acquired content through Google Books, Google Play Books, and Google Scholar. Publishers and authors had provided works for specific purposes such as search functions, sales, and research access. The plaintiffs argue that these agreements did not permit extensive commercial AI training. They also claim Google downloaded large web-scraped datasets containing copyrighted materials. The complaint states that some of this content originated from known piracy sources and paywalled services.
The 57-page document outlines four claims under federal law. Three relate to alleged reproduction through Google’s services, web scraping activities, and the development or training of Gemini. The fourth involves violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, with allegations that Google removed or altered copyright management information from training datasets. The filing also references internal discussions about using publisher-supplied books. One estimate placed potential fines between $10 billion and $100 billion, though these claims have not yet been tested in court.
Class Members Include Registered Works
The proposed class encompasses owners of registered U.S. copyrights for qualifying books and journal articles. Eligible books must have an International Standard Book Number (ISBN), while eligible articles need a Digital Object Identifier or International Standard Serial Number. The class also includes works allegedly copied from Google services or obtained through web scraping, as well as those purportedly reproduced during Gemini’s development or training.
Membership is also limited by the timing of copyright registration. One criterion requires registration within five years of publication and prior to Google’s alleged reproduction or dissemination. Another requires registration within three months of publication. The lawsuit excludes government entities, Google affiliates, certain court participants, and individuals who properly opt out of the class. The court must approve the class designation before the case can proceed on behalf of the larger group.
Legal Demands and Compensation
The plaintiffs are seeking statutory damages or actual damages related to proven infringements. They also request Google’s profits attributable to any confirmed copyright violations. Their demands include an injunction, coverage of legal fees, and a jury trial. The lawsuit does not specify a total damages amount but asks Google to disclose Gemini training data, data collection practices, and known capabilities through a court-mandated accounting.
This accounting would identify the copyrighted works used for Gemini’s training, as well as detail how Google collected, copied, processed, and encoded these materials. The plaintiffs also seek court-supervised destruction of unauthorized copies under Google’s control. Earlier, Hachette and Cengage attempted to join separate legal actions against Google’s AI initiatives in California. The New York suit expands the list to include Elsevier, Turow, and S.C.R.I.B.E., while focusing on claims related to Google’s services, web scraping, and Gemini training activities.