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Google Faces Another Lawsuit Alleging Its AI Violated Copyrights

A group of publishers says Google engaged in a prolific and unprecedented infringement of copyrighted materials.

Katelyn Chedraoui CNET 14 Jul 2026, 16:47 2 min read 8/10 United States

Google Faces Another Lawsuit Alleging Its AI Violated Copyrights

Key Takeaways

The lawsuit was filed by Hachette Book Group, alongside novelists Scott Turow, David Baldacci, and other prominent authors, targeting Google's generative AI services like Gemini.
Plaintiffs claim Google used at least 300,000 copyrighted books for AI training without licenses or compensation, citing internal Google documents.
This case follows a similar high-stakes lawsuit by The New York Times against OpenAI in December 2023, which sought billions in damages.
Google's fair use defense will likely hinge on whether AI training constitutes a 'transformative' use—a point courts have not yet settled uniformly.
If the court rules against Google, it could force the company to license content retroactively or pay significant damages, potentially exceeding $1 billion.

A coalition of major publishers, including Hachette Book Group and author Scott Turow, has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Google, accusing the tech giant of using their copyrighted works to train its generative AI systems without permission. The lawsuit, lodged in a U.S. federal court, alleges that Google's AI models, such as Gemini, ingested vast amounts of copyrighted text, including books and articles, to improve their language capabilities—a practice the plaintiffs describe as 'prolific and unprecedented infringement.' This case is the latest in a wave of legal actions targeting AI companies over unlicensed training data, following similar suits against OpenAI, Meta, and Microsoft. The publishers argue that Google's AI outputs can reproduce or closely mimic copyrighted material, undermining the market for original works and violating the Copyright Act. Google has not yet formally responded, but the company is expected to argue that its data use falls under fair use, a defense that courts have weighed inconsistently in prior AI cases. For authors and publishers, this lawsuit represents a critical test of whether copyright law will adapt to protect creators in the age of generative AI. The outcome could set a precedent for how tech companies access and monetize copyrighted content, potentially reshaping the economics of content creation and AI development.

Frequently Asked Questions

The lawsuit, filed by Hachette Book Group, Scott Turow, and other publishers, claims Google used copyrighted books and articles without permission to train its generative AI models, including Gemini. The plaintiffs argue this constitutes copyright infringement and seek damages and an injunction.

The plaintiffs include Hachette Book Group, authors Scott Turow, David Baldacci, and several other prominent writers and publishers who allege their copyrighted works were used without authorization.

Google is expected to argue that its use of copyrighted materials to train AI qualifies as 'fair use' because it is transformative—it does not reproduce the works but learns from them. Google has previously argued similar defenses in other cases.

Both lawsuits hinge on unauthorized use of copyrighted content to train AI. The NYT vs. OpenAI case, filed in December 2023, also seeks billions in damages. The Google case adds further pressure on tech companies to license training data or face legal consequences.

If the court finds infringement, Google could be ordered to pay statutory damages of up to $150,000 per work—potentially billions—and may need to obtain licenses for all future AI training. It could also set a precedent forcing other AI companies to pay for training data.

Original source

www.cnet.com

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