Major publishers are not sitting idly by, while digital textbook pirates use Google Ads to boost their website traffic and profit from subscription services or individual sales, often at a fraction of the market price.  The publishing industry, including physical and digital textbooks, is a massive business in the United States, generating over 8.3 billion annually. The publishers are determined to protect their share of this market and are taking action against the pirates.

Last month, Cengage, Macmillan Learning, McGraw Hill and Elsevier filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing it of promoting pirated copies of their textbooks. The publishers told the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that Google has ignored thousands of copyright-infringement notices and continues to profit from the sale of pirated digital versions of textbooks advertised through its dominant search engine.

According to the lawsuit, Google has worsened piracy by restricting ads for licensed e-books. As a result, the textbook market is upside down, as the world’s largest online advertising business advertises ebooks for pirates but rejects ebook ads for legitimate sellers.”
Google has not given any statement regarding the lawsuit. However,  the publishers’ attorney, Matt Oppenheim of Oppenheim + Zebrak, told Reuters that Google had become a “thieves’ den” for textbook pirates.

Anyone can open a Google Ads account and promote most digital content, such as audiobooks, ebooks, digital textbooks, manga, magazines and newspapers. A fraction of these people who pay hundreds of dollars daily are legitimate businesses or publishers looking to get more eyeballs on their solutions. However, some bad actors out there pay for Ads for pirated content. It is hard to distinguish the good from the bad in this environment.