Artists, Writer Suing Google Agree to Merge AI Copyright Cases

Artists accusing Google LLC of copyright infringement by using their work to train a text-to-image AI model agreed with the tech giant that a judge should merge the case with another proposed class action in California federal court.

Photographer Jingna Zhang and cartoonists Hope Larson, Jessica Fink, and Sarah Andersen joined with Google and investigative journalist Jill Leovy—who filed her own copyright suit against Google—to propose combining the two cases, in an Oct. 25 joint filing in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

The proposed order followed Google’s Oct. 9 motion to consolidate, which stated “both the Leovy and Zhang actions challenge Google’s training process, alleging that the transformative use of copyrighted works to teach generative AI models is copyright infringement.”

Before asking to consolidate, Google in May asked the court to relate the two cases, which the Zhang plaintiffs opposed, stating Leovy’s case isn’t related to theirs “merely because they both concern generative AI” and that relating the two “defeats, rather than conserves, judicial economy.” Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin nonetheless granted that motion in August.

The case was reassigned to Judge Eumi K. Lee later that month.

According to a scheduling order in September, the Zhang plaintiffs were postured to oppose the consolidation as well, but said in the joint filing with Google and Leovy that consolidating the lawsuits will “advance the just and efficient progress of this litigation, reduce case duplication, conserve Court time and resources, avoid the need to contact parties and witnesses for multiple proceedings, and minimize the expenditure of time and money for all parties involved.”

The Zhang plaintiffs sued Google and its parent Alphabet Inc. in April, claiming the company’s AI model training involved copying billions of images without permission.

Leovy’s suit over Google’s AI was filed in July 2023 and originally included two minor plaintiffs, among others, and a host of claims including invasion of privacy under California law. That case was whittled to one named plaintiff, Leovy, and one direct copyright infringement claim in a second amended complaint filed in June this year.

Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP and Joseph Saveri Law Firm LLP represent the Zhang plaintiffs. Clarkson Law Firm PC represents Leovy.

Google and Alphabet are represented by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

The case is: Zhang v. Google LLC, N.D. Cal., 5:24-cv-02531, proposed order 10/25/24.