Back To Square One In The Google Books Lawsuit

It’s been more than six years since the Authors Guild first sued Google for scanning books. Today, with a proposed settlement in tatters, the writers group took a fresh step to revive the case and move it towards a trial.

In a motion filed in New York federal court, the Authors Guild asked Judge Denny Chin to certify the class of authors suing Google. This is a common procedural step in any class action suit and amounts to plaintiffs asking the court’s permission to bring a lawsuit on behalf of everyone else in the same position (in this case, every US author whose copyrighted work has been scanned by Google). The difference with the lawsuit this time around is the absence of the publishers who, in 2006, had joined with the authors to stop Google. That is likely because the publishers, after the failure of the settlement, have begun to craft a series of bilateral deals with the search giant.