Google fends off part of textbook publisher lawsuit over ads
June 5 (Reuters) - Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab has convinced a Manhattan federal court to dismiss part of a lawsuit from a group of top educational publishers that accused the tech giant of unlawfully promoting pirated electronic versions of their textbooks.
U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rochon said on Wednesday, opens new tab that Cengage Learning (CNGO.PK), opens new tab, McGraw Hill, Macmillan Learning and Elsevier failed to support their allegations that Google committed vicarious copyright infringement or violated New York state law.
The judge also found, however, that Google could not escape the publishers' trademark infringement claim at an early part of the case. Rochon also allowed a separate publisher claim for contributory copyright infringement to continue, which Google had not yet asked the court to dismiss.
The publishers said in a statement on Thursday that they were pleased with the decision to allow some of their claims to move forward, and that dismissing their other claims "will not save Google from having to explain why a company with its resources decided to side with blatant piracy, rather than with creators and copyright holders."
A Google spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
The publishers sued Google last year, arguing that Google searches for their textbooks feature heavily discounted, pirated e-book versions at the top of the results and "drown out" results for the legitimate versions. They said Google ignored thousands of copyright infringement notices and profited from sales of pirated books.
Google denied the allegations and said the e-books "are not sold through Google's platform and Google does not share in revenues from such sales."
Rochon said in her ruling on Wednesday that the publishers' vicarious copyright infringement claim failed because Google could not control the pirate sellers' alleged misconduct.
The judge also rejected Google's request to dismiss the publishers' trademark infringement claim, finding that the tech giant could be responsible for the pirate sellers' misuse of the publishers' trademarks.
The case is Cengage Learning Inc v. Google LLC, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:24-cv-04274.
For the publishers: Matt Oppenheim and Michele Murphy of Oppenheim + Zebrak
For Google: Sy Damle, Alli Stillman, Joe Wetzel and Sarah Tomkowiak of Latham & Watkins
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