Songwriters, Playwrights Side With Authors Guild Against Google

Organizations representing songwriters, illustrators, playwrights and other writers are asking a federal appeals court to uphold an order allowing the Authors Guild to bring a class-action against Google for its book digitization project. The groups say in a friend-of-the-court brief that a class-action lawsuit is the only realistic means for many content creators to enforce their copyrights when their works are digitized without permission.

The organizations add that a ruling denying the Authors Guild class-action status could "encourage technology providers to simply take first, and worry about the consequences later." The coalition argues: "Without the ability to aggregate their claims against infringing technology providers, [we] fear that the exclusive rights that the copyright act promises will be illusory to all except the largest and best-heeled copyright owners." The groups to join in the friend-of-the-court brief include the Dramatists Guild, National Writers' Union, Romance Writers of America, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Songwriters Guild of America, and the Text and Academic Authors Association. They are asking the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold an order entered last year by U.S. Circuit Court Judge Denny Chin, who rejected Google's contention that copyright infringement requires case-by-case evaluation.