Photographers to File Class Action Lawsuit Against Google

The American Society of Media Photographers and a number of related trade associations are expected to file a fresh class action lawsuit against Google over images used in the publications it has been digitizing. The lawsuit is expected to be filed tomorrow in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

“Google is scanning in books and publications with visual images, which impedes the rights of the copyright holders of those images. We are seeking compensation for that,” said James McGuire, lead attorney in this case. Other Plaintiffs include the Graphic Artists Guild, the Picture Archive Council of America, the North American Nature Photography Association, and the Professional Photographers of America. Via The Financial Times.

UPDATE: April 8, 2010

Well, the ASMP went ahead and filed that suit. This one’s one to keep an eye on. Incidentally, we did notice that Google’s copyright lawyer, William Patry, is on a copyright symposium, Copyright and the New Economy, being held by, you guessed it, the American Society of Media Photographers. Seems a bit odd given the recent turn of events, but we’ll see what happens.

Tags: Art Law, Copyright, fair use, google book project., infringement, intellectual property, piracy