Key holding or allegation
Complaint allegations only; no merits ruling identified by 9 Sep 2026.
Why it matters
Major publisher action testing licence scope and purpose limitation alongside conventional web-scraping and training theories.
Facts
Publishers and authors allege Google copied works through reuse of content supplied to existing Google services, web scraping and reproduction in Gemini development and training.
Issues before the court
Whether Google may repurpose works lawfully supplied for other services, whether scraping/training is infringing or fair use, and whether alleged CMI removal and output conduct create liability.
What the court did not decide
All merits questions, class certification, fair use, CMI liability and remedies.
Procedural timeline
U.S. District Court
Complaint filed: Hachette and co-plaintiffs allege copying from multiple sources for Gemini training plus CMI-related conduct.