AI lawsuits are in the news again. And it's not Anthropic this week, but the large ongoing lawsuit against Google's Gemini. It takes the form of a motion to intervene, as I believe it's called (you can read the motion in question here to fill yourselves in). The motion is brought by two major publishing groups, Cengage and Hachette. It requests, as I understand it, that the two publishing groups join the case brought by writers and illustrators in 2023 and currently before the Northern California judiciary, intervening as class representatives.
ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway
Publishers as Rights Holders
This story has, needless to say, been reported in many places, but the one that interests me the most is the release from the Association of American Publishers, including a statement from Maria Pallante, as it indicates not only how this case might unfold but the role that publishers may take in future cases. Which is of note for all of us as rights holders, because it suggests a landscape in which publishers act as rights holders alongside and dividing up settlements with the rights holders who created the work. And for indies, who fill both of those roles, that's interesting.
The case against Google alleges the use of copyright material from shadow libraries (as in the Anthropic case) as well as material that might have been paid for at retail price.
A Call for Licensing
The AAP's statement makes it clear that the inclusion of publishers in a class would, it asserts, help to clarify many of the complexities involved with such a case (which complexities Google has used to object to the case as it stands).
Pallante's statement ends:
“It is understandable that technology companies may want or need creative works to build safe, useful, and compelling AI systems, but this realization should point to a licensing conversation, not a rationalization. Let's move past these early, free-for-all days of AI development, and get back to the symbiotic partnerships that have always been a hallmark of copyright law.”
“Symbiotic partnerships” might be overplaying what the future will bring (and maybe overplaying the past a little), but this, like the Anthropic case, will play a significant role in shaping whatever comes next.
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