Google asked a federal court to dismiss copyright claims
against its Google Books project by groups representing authors and
photographers on Thursday, saying the groups could not sue over
copyrights they did not own.
The motion was the latest development in a legal battle
that has been raging since 2005, when The Authors Guild and the
American Association of Publishers sued to block Google from scanning
millions of books in libraries and making digitized content from them
available in libraries and online. They charge that scanning the books
without always seeking permission would violate copyrights. The American
Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) filed a similar lawsuit last
year, which is being considered alongside the authors' case.
Google's motion seeks to remove The Authors Guild and the ASMP from the lawsuits. They don't have legal standing to sue over the copyrights because they aren't copyright holders but merely represent them, Google argued in its brief supporting the motion.
"The associations are not proper parties to this copyright infringement case because they themselves do not claim to own any copyright at issue," Google wrote in the brief to Judge Denny Chin of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Manhattan.
Google had told Judge Chin it planned to file motions for dismissal, and the judge had set Friday as a deadline. Google did not file a similar motion to dismiss the lawsuit by the Association of American Publishers. The company is believed to be closer to reaching a settlement with the plaintiffs in that case.
Google launched the library scanning project in 2004. One copyright settlement was already reached in 2008, but Judge Chin rejected that agreement in March.
The plaintiffs will have until January 23 to respond to the motions filed Thursday, and Google will then have until February 3 to respond to their opposition.
By Stephen Lawson, IDG News
Google's motion seeks to remove The Authors Guild and the ASMP from the lawsuits. They don't have legal standing to sue over the copyrights because they aren't copyright holders but merely represent them, Google argued in its brief supporting the motion.
"The associations are not proper parties to this copyright infringement case because they themselves do not claim to own any copyright at issue," Google wrote in the brief to Judge Denny Chin of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Manhattan.
Google had told Judge Chin it planned to file motions for dismissal, and the judge had set Friday as a deadline. Google did not file a similar motion to dismiss the lawsuit by the Association of American Publishers. The company is believed to be closer to reaching a settlement with the plaintiffs in that case.
Google launched the library scanning project in 2004. One copyright settlement was already reached in 2008, but Judge Chin rejected that agreement in March.
The plaintiffs will have until January 23 to respond to the motions filed Thursday, and Google will then have until February 3 to respond to their opposition.
By Stephen Lawson, IDG News
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