Google faces $10B lawsuit from publishers over Gemini training

Three major publishers and author Scott Turow filed a class action against Google, alleging the tech giant copied millions of copyrighted works without permission to train its Gemini AI models.

Hachette Book Group, Cengage Learning and Elsevier joined author Scott Turow in a class action filed July 13 in New York, accusing Google of copying millions of copyrighted books and articles to train Gemini without authorization or compensation.

"Publishers and authors never authorized Google to copy the works they received for Google Books for the completely separate purpose of training its AI models and building a multi-billion dollar competing business," the complaint states, citing the 2008 settlement that allowed Google to display only snippets from scanned books.

Google's own internal documents cited in the lawsuit show the company recognized it faced "$10Bs-$100Bs" in potential statutory damages for the alleged infringement. The complaint also notes Google employees deliberately sourced copyrighted works by well-regarded authors because they contained "well-curated facts, well-organized analyses, and captivating fictional narratives" — content "an editor would approve of."

The lawsuit seeks an injunction barring Google from using copyrighted content for AI training and statutory damages per infringed work, potentially reaching billions of dollars. It adds to mounting legal pressure on Alphabet Inc. as courts and regulators worldwide scrutinize how tech companies obtain training data for large language models.

From Google Books to Gemini

The plaintiffs allege Google exploited books provided under its 2008 Google Books settlement — which permitted only snippet display — to build a commercial AI product generating billions in revenue. The complaint also targets content from Google Play Books and Google Scholar, arguing the company never obtained permission to repurpose those works for machine learning.

Hachette and Cengage had previously sought to join a 2023 generative AI copyright lawsuit against Google but withdrew after determining the earlier case might not cover claims subject to a three-year statute of limitations, according to court filings. The 2023 suit, brought by illustrators and writers, remains pending while Google has challenged the publishers' right to participate.

A Growing Legal Wave

The suit is the latest in a series of copyright challenges against AI developers. The Authors Guild, individual writers, and visual artists have filed similar claims against OpenAI, Meta Platforms Inc., and Stability AI over the past two years. Unlike those cases, this lawsuit specifically targets Google's dual role as both a digital library operator and an AI developer, arguing the company exploited a trust-based content partnership for an unauthorized commercial purpose.

The named plaintiffs represent the three largest segments of the publishing industry: trade books (Hachette), educational materials (Cengage), and academic journals (Elsevier). A class certification ruling could determine whether thousands of additional publishers and authors can join the case. The last major copyright settlement between publishers and Google, reached in 2008, involved a $125 million payment to authors and publishers for digitizing millions of books — a fraction of the potential damages at stake in this litigation.

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