Google Faces Another Class Action Suit for Book Digitization Project

by Janette Spencer-Davis, Legal Editor, CCH Copyright Law Reports   

A class of photography and graphic arts organizations, and individual illustrators and photographers, filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Google, Inc. on April 7, 2010, alleging that Google's Book Search project involves massive infringement of copyrighted images. (The American Society of Media Photographers, Inc. v. Google, Inc. No. 1:2010cv02977) The class of visual artists is seeking an injunction against Google and a declaration that the company infringed the class members' copyrights.

Author and publisher groups sued Google in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York over its plan to digitize and distribute millions of out-of-print books. (The Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google, Inc. No. 05-08136) The district court preliminarily approved a $125 million settlement agreement between the parties last November, and oral arguments on the settlement were held on February 18, 2010.

The visual artists claim that Google has been misappropriating and misusing the property and rights of the class and seek statutory damages of at least $30,000 per infringed visual work or at least $150,000 per infringed work if the court finds that Google acted willfully. The group's motion to intervene in the pending the Authors Guild suit was denied (The Authors Guild v. Google, Inc., 2009 Copyright Law Decisions ¶29,829). The district court judge said it was "simply too late" to permit new members into that case and that it "makes more sense" for the visual artists to file their own lawsuit.

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