Several publishers have taken tech giant Google to court over what they alleged are copyright infractions taking place on the search engine that the company has failed to address and even promoted the appearance of pirated versions of their books on its platform, according to a report.
A lawyer representing Cengage, Macmillan Learning, McGraw Hill and Elsevier told Reuters that the tech firm has turned into a “thieves’ den” for those who are pirating their books.
Court documents filed on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said the lawsuit aims to stop the alleged practice of allowing pirated books appear on Google’s search engine.
Photo illustration by Chesnot/Getty Images
“This lawsuit seeks to address Google’s systemic and pervasive advertising of
unauthorized, infringing copies of the Publishers’ textbooks and educational works,” the publishers said. “For years, Google has knowingly facilitated and reaped profits from the sale of infringing works through pirate websites that Google promotes.”
Newsweek contacted Google for comment via email on Wednesday.
The lawsuit went on to claim that publishers had complained about the practice but that the concerns were ignored by the tech company and in the process allowed “immeasurable harm” to the book producers.
“Google has continued to advertise infringing works while simultaneously restricting ads for authentic educational works—supporting piracy instead of legitimacy,” the publishers said in their lawsuit. “Now, that harm must be remedied.”
Part of the harm, the publishers said, emerges from Google’s search engine dominance. It generates more than $300 billion in advertising revenues through the platform.
“Unfortunately, Google has used its advertising power to undermine legitimate educational publishers and profit from piracy,” the legal claim said. “Google has failed to remove thousands of ads for infringing works in a timely manner, or at all, and has continued to do business with known pirates.”
The publishers claim that Google had a legal responsibility to cease the activity on its platform even after, they said, the company was informed of the piracy.
“Not only has Google failed to independently ‘root out and eject’ repeat infringer pirates, it has disregarded the infringement notices clearly identifying these ‘rogue sites,'” the complaint said.
“To address and remedy Google’s persistent and harmful course of conduct, Plaintiffs bring this action,” it added.
“Plaintiffs hereby demand a trial by jury of all issues that are so triable.”
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.