aceBook publishers sue Google for copyright infringement over Gemini AI training
Abstract: A group of major publishers have filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing the company of illegally using millions of copyrighted books to help build its Gemini artificial intelligence models, in “one of the most prolific infringements of copyrighted materials in history”. The case, filed in federal court in New York, has been brought by three publishers – Hachette Book Group, Cengage Learning, and Elsevier – and bestselling American author Scott Turow. The publishers argue that Google repurposed books that had b…
On 14 July 2026, three major publishers and author Scott Turow filed a federal lawsuit in New York alleging Google copied millions of copyrighted books to train its Gemini models. The suit claims books supplied for limited services such as Google Books and Google Play Books were repurposed for commercial AI training without permission or payment, despite internal warnings about potential fines.
The case matters because it tests whether training generative AI on publisher-supplied books constitutes infringement and could reshape licensing and compensation for authors. It remains uncertain how the court will rule, whether damages or an injunction and destruction order will be granted, and how it will interact with parallel lawsuits and settlements involving other AI companies.
- Publishers Hachette Book Group, Cengage Learning, and Elsevier plus author Scott Turow filed suit in federal court in New York over Gemini training.
- Suit alleges Google repurposed books supplied for limited services like Google Books and Google Play Books to train commercial AI without permission or payment.
- Complaint cites internal flag of "$10Bs-$100Bs in potential fines" and seeks statutory damages, injunction, and destruction of unauthorized copies.
Major book publishers allege Google illegally copied millions of copyrighted books supplied for limited services to train its Gemini AI models without permission or payment, harming authors and publishers through competing AI-generated substitutes.
The rundown
The complaint filed in New York by Hachette, Cengage, Elsevier and Scott Turow claims Google took books provided for Google Books, Google Play Books and Google Scholar and copied them for AI training beyond the licensed uses like displaying searchable snippets or selling ebooks.
The filing points to specific titles allegedly used, including NK Jemisin's The Fifth Season and Lemony Snicket's Who Could That Be at This Hour?, and cites an example where Gemini could generate a 100-page murder mystery in 20 minutes for 39 cents.
The case follows earlier copyright suits against Google, OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta, including a $1.5bn Anthropic settlement and a protest book by authors like Kazuo Ishiguro, and comes after Google opposed the publishers joining a 2023 authors' suit.
Sources
- JournalismThe Guardian2026-07-14
How should this claim be treated?
The debate