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The Authors Guild v. Google, Inc. Doc. 12 12-2402 ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT ————————————— THE AUTHORS GUILD, INC., ASSOCIATIONAL PLAINTIFF, BETTY MILES, JOSEPH GOULDEN, AND JIM BOUTON, ON BEHALF OF THEMSELVES AND ALL OTHERS SIMILARLY SITUATED, Plaintiffs-Respondents, v. GOOGLE INC., Defendant-Petitioner. ————————————— On Petition for Permission to Appeal From an Order Granting Certification of a Class Action, by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:05-cv-08136-DC Before the Honorable Denny Chin ———————————— PLAINTIFFS’ ANSWER IN OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANT’S PETITION FOR PERMISSION TO APPEAL PURSUANT TO FEDERAL RULE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE 23(f) ————————————— SANFORD P. DUMAIN JOANNE ZACK MILBERG LLP MICHAEL J. BONI One Pennsylvania Plaza JOSHUA D. SNYDER 49th Floor JOANNE G. NOBLE New York, NY 10119 BONI & ZACK LLC (212) 594-5300 15 St. Asaphs Road Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004 (610) 822-0200 Attorneys for Plaintiffs-Respondents June 27, 2012 (Additional counsel continued on next page) ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ Dockets.Justia.com Additional counsel for Plaintiffs-Respondents: ROBERT J. LAROCCA KOHN, SWIFT & GRAF, P.C. One South Broad Street, Suite 2100 Philadelphia, PA 19107 (215) 238-1700 RULE 26.1 DISCLOSURE STATEMENT Associational Plaintiff, The Authors Guild, Inc., by its undersigned attorney, hereby states, pursuant to Rule 26.1 of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, that it has no parent corporation and that there is no publicly held corporation that owns 10% or more of its stock. Dated: June 27, 2012 /s/Michael J. Boni Michael J. Boni TABLE OF CONTENTS Page COUNTERSTATEMENT OF THE QUESTION PRESENTED .............................1 COUNTERSTATEMENT OF THE CASE...............................................................1 STANDARD OF REVIEW .......................................................................................3 ARGUMENT .............................................................................................................4 I. Adequacy of Representation............................................................................4 A. Google’s Survey Is Entitled To No Weight ..........................................4 B. That Some Class Members Feel They Have Benefitted from Google Books Does Not Create a Fundamental Conflict ..................................9 II. Predominance ................................................................................................12 A. Google Now Inconsistently Argues that the Court’s Decision Prejudices Its Ability to Submit Book-By-Book Evidence ................13 B. Google’s Argument That Its Fair Use Defense Precludes Class Certification Is Otherwise Without Merit ...........................................16 CONCLUSION........................................................................................................20 i TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Page Cases Am. Geophysical Union v. Texaco Inc., 60 F.3d 913 (2d Cir. 1994) ............................................................... 10, 14, 17 In re Bulk [Extruded] Graphite Prods. Antitrust Litig., 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16619 (D.N.J. Apr. 4, 2006)....................................16 Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569 (1994).......................................................................................14 Castle Rock Entm’t, Inc. v. Carol Publ’g Grp., Inc., 150 F.3d 132 (2d Cir. 1998) ..........................................................................14 Cordes & Co. Fin. Servs., Inc. v. A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc., 502 F.3d 91 (2d Cir. 2007) ..............................................................................5 Cummings v. Connell, 316 F.3d 886 (9th Cir. 2003) ...........................................................................9 Denney v. Deutsche Bank AG, 443 F.3d 253 (2d Cir. 2006) ............................................................................9 Freeland v. AT&T Corp., 238 F.R.D. 130 (S.D.N.Y. 2006)...................................................................11 Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enters., 471 U.S. 539 (1985)...................................................................................... 14 Heerwagen v. Clear Channel Commc’ns, 435 F.3d 219 (2d Cir. 2006) ............................................................................4 In re Fedex Ground Package Sys., Inc., Emp’t Practices Litig., No. 305-MD-527, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76798 (N.D. Ind. Oct. 15, 2007).................................................................................6 ii In re Flag Telecom Holdings, Ltd. Sec. Litig., 574 F.3d 29 (2d Cir. 2009) ..............................................................................6 In re Initial Pub. Offerings Sec. Litig., 471 F.3d 24 (2d Cir. 2006) ..............................................................................9 In re Nassau Cnty. Strip Search Cases, 461 F.3d 219 (2d Cir. 2006) ..........................................................................20 In re Sumitomo Copper Litig., 262 F.3d 134 (2d Cir. 2001) ................................................................. 1, 4, 12 In re Visa Check/Mastermoney Antitrust Litig., 280 F.3d 124 (2d Cir. 2001) ............................................................... 9, 19, 20 In re Wellbutrin SR Direct Purchaser Antitrust Litig., Civ. A. No. 04-5525, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36719 (E.D. Pa. May 2, 2008)..................................................................................16 Infinity Broad. Corp. v. Kirkwood, 150 F.3d 104 (2d Cir. 1998) ................................................................... 13, 18 Moore v. PaineWebber, Inc., 306 F.3d 1247 (2d Cir. 2002) .......................................................................12 Myers v. Hertz, 624 F.3d 537 (2d Cir. 2010) ............................................................................4 Ruggles v. WellPoint, Inc., 272 F.R.D. 320 (N.D.N.Y. 2011) ..................................................................12 Sony Corp. of Am. v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417 (1984).......................................................................................14 Srail v. Village of Lisle, 249 F.R.D. 544 (N.D. Ill. 2008) ....................................................................12 Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., 746 F.2d 112 (2d Cir. 1984) ............................................................................8 iii Valley Drug Co. v. Geneva Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 350 F.3d 1181 (11th Cir. 2003) .............................................................. 10, 11 Other Authorities Manual For Complex Litigation (Fourth) (2004) .....................................................5 1 Alba Conte & Herbert B. Newberg, Newberg on Class Actions (4th ed. 2002).................................................................................................11 1 William B. Rubenstein, Newberg on Class Actions (5th ed. 2012) ........................................................................................... 11-12 Rules Fed. R. Civ. P. 23............................................................................................. passim iv This Court should deny Google’s Rule 23(f) petition seeking interlocutory review of Judge Chin’s May 31, 2012 decision and June 11, 2012 order certifying the class (and plaintiffs Betty Miles, Joseph Goulden, and Jim Bouton as class representative plaintiffs) under Rule 23(b)(3). The decision (1) does not “effectively terminate the litigation,” which will proceed on the merits, with Google preserving all appellate rights at the conclusion of the case, and (2) does not “implicate[] a legal question about which there is a compelling need for immediate resolution.” In re Sumitomo Copper Litig., 262 F.3d 134, 139 (2d Cir. 2001). COUNTERSTATEMENT OF THE QUESTION PRESENTED Should this Court exercise its discretion to review interlocutorily the class certification decision here when (a) there are no fundamental conflicts between the representative plaintiffs and the class, and (b) common questions of law and fact predominate, including as to fair use, over any individualized questions? COUNTERSTATEMENT OF THE CASE This litigation arose from Google’s business decision to gain a competitive edge over its rivals in the search engine market by making digital copies of millions of “offline” printed materials without permission of the copyright owners. As part of this digitization project, Google unilaterally decided to copy not just works in the public domain, but also works still in-copyright. SA73-76.1 Rather than obtaining licenses from copyright owners for the digital use of their printed works, Google entered into agreements with libraries to gain access to these works. A number of university libraries allowed Google to make digital copies of the books in the libraries’ collections, including in-copyright books. In exchange, Google provided digital copies of the books to the libraries. SA73-87. Google refers to this massive copying campaign as its “Library Project.” Google currently maintains on its servers millions of complete digital copies of in-copyright books, and the libraries also maintain millions of complete digital copies of these books provided to them by Google. In response to search requests by users of its search engine, Google publicly displays expression from these copyrighted books. Id. The instant case is brought under Section 106(1), (3) and