Hachette and Cengage have asked permission to join a class action lawsuit against Google alleging mass copyright infringement in support of training its Gemini LM.

Hachette and Cengage have asked permission to join a class action lawsuit against Google alleging mass copyright infringement in support of training its Gemini LM.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/99457-publishers-seek-to-join-class-action-against-google.html

“Google has objected to efforts by plaintiffs to include publishers as part of the class in the class action lawsuit, claiming that adding publishers would introduce intra-class complexities. But the AAP asserts, pointing to the success that authors and publishers had in the Bartz v. Anthropic class action lawsuit, that direct participation by publishers would instead help address various issues so that the case can move forward.

“At the heart of the lawsuit is the charge that, in the rush to build its Generative AI Gemini product, Google illegally copied millions of books rather than reach licensing deals with copyright owners. The result is a Gemini product that, the complaint charges, competes directly with books in the market.”