Publishers Aim to Participate in Lawsuit Against Google Regarding AI Training Practices

In a significant legal move, publishers Hachette Book Group and Cengage Group have approached a California federal court, seeking permission to intervene in a proposed class action lawsuit against Google. The lawsuit centers around allegations of the unauthorized use of copyrighted materials to train Google’s artificial intelligence systems.

In their proposed complaint, the publishers assert that Google has committed “one of the most prolific infringements of copyrighted materials in history.” They claim that the tech giant copied content from Hachette’s books and Cengage’s textbooks without obtaining the necessary permissions.

As of now, Google has not responded to requests for comments regarding the publishers’ intervention, which could potentially escalate the damages involved in the ongoing case.

Maria Pallante, CEO of the Association of American Publishers, emphasized the importance of the publishers’ involvement, stating, “We believe our participation will bolster the case, especially because publishers are uniquely positioned to address many of the legal, factual, and evidentiary questions before the Court.”

The current lawsuit primarily involves a group of visual artists who have accused Google of misusing their work to train an AI-powered image generator. This case is part of a broader trend, with numerous high-stakes lawsuits emerging from artists, authors, music labels, and other copyright holders against tech companies regarding their AI training practices.

In a notable precedent, Anthropic settled a lawsuit last year for $1.5 billion with a group of authors who claimed their works were improperly used to train its AI chatbot, Claude.

In their recent filing, the publishers highlighted ten specific examples of textbooks and other works that Google allegedly misappropriated from authors, including notable figures like Scott Turow and N.K. Jemisin, to develop its Gemini large language model. They are seeking an unspecified amount of monetary damages on behalf of themselves and a broader class of authors and publishers.

The decision on whether to grant the publishers’ request to join the case will be made by U.S. District Judge Eumi Lee.

Topics
Lawsuits
InsurTech
Data Driven
Artificial Intelligence
Training Development
Google

In a significant legal move, publishers Hachette Book Group and Cengage Group have approached a California federal court, seeking permission to intervene in a proposed class action lawsuit against Google. The lawsuit centers around allegations of the unauthorized use of copyrighted materials to train Google’s artificial intelligence systems.

In their proposed complaint, the publishers assert that Google has committed “one of the most prolific infringements of copyrighted materials in history.” They claim that the tech giant copied content from Hachette’s books and Cengage’s textbooks without obtaining the necessary permissions.

As of now, Google has not responded to requests for comments regarding the publishers’ intervention, which could potentially escalate the damages involved in the ongoing case.

Maria Pallante, CEO of the Association of American Publishers, emphasized the importance of the publishers’ involvement, stating, “We believe our participation will bolster the case, especially because publishers are uniquely positioned to address many of the legal, factual, and evidentiary questions before the Court.”

The current lawsuit primarily involves a group of visual artists who have accused Google of misusing their work to train an AI-powered image generator. This case is part of a broader trend, with numerous high-stakes lawsuits emerging from artists, authors, music labels, and other copyright holders against tech companies regarding their AI training practices.

In a notable precedent, Anthropic settled a lawsuit last year for $1.5 billion with a group of authors who claimed their works were improperly used to train its AI chatbot, Claude.

In their recent filing, the publishers highlighted ten specific examples of textbooks and other works that Google allegedly misappropriated from authors, including notable figures like Scott Turow and N.K. Jemisin, to develop its Gemini large language model. They are seeking an unspecified amount of monetary damages on behalf of themselves and a broader class of authors and publishers.

The decision on whether to grant the publishers’ request to join the case will be made by U.S. District Judge Eumi Lee.

Topics
Lawsuits
InsurTech
Data Driven
Artificial Intelligence
Training Development
Google