{{Short description|American professional organization}} {{Infobox organization | name = Authors Guild | logo_size = 300 | image_alt = | caption = | predecessor = | merged_into = <!-- Any other organizations with which the organization was merged --> | successor = | formation = {{start date and age|1912}} | logo = Authors Guild logo.svg | founder = <!-- or: | founders = --> | founding_location = | extinction = <!-- or: | dissolved = --> <!--e.g. use {{end date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}}--> | merger = <!-- Other organizations (if any) merged to constitute the organization --> | type = <!-- e.g. Governmental organization, NGO, etc --> | tax_id = 13-2509231 | status = 501(c)(6) organization<ref name=CSUSA-JobPosting>{{Cite web |url=https://www.csusa.org/news/288063/General-Counsel-Job-The-Authors-Guild-Inc..htm |title=General Counsel Job, the Authors Guild Inc. |access-date=2019-01-30 |date=2016-05-05 |publisher=The Copyright Society of the USA |language=en |archive-date=2016-05-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160528180157/https://www.csusa.org/news/288063/General-Counsel-Job-The-Authors-Guild-Inc..htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> | purpose = Advocacy | headquarters = New York City, U.S. | location = | coordinates = <!-- location's {{coord}}s --> | region_served = <!-- or: | region_served = --> <!--Any particular region or regions associated with or served by the organization--> | services = | membership = 9,000 | leader_title = Council President | leader_name = Ralph Eubanks | leader_title2 = Foundation President | leader_name2 = Marie Arana | key_people = Mary Rasenberger, CEO<br/>Maya Shanbhag Lang, President | affiliations = IFJ | budget = | budget_year = | slogan = <!-- in quotemarks / inverted commas --> | website = {{Official URL}} | remarks = | former_name = Authors League of America | footnotes = }}
The '''Authors Guild''' is the United States' oldest and largest professional organization for writers and provides advocacy on issues of free expression and copyright protection. Since its founding in 1912 as the '''Authors League of America''', it has counted among its board members notable authors of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, including numerous winners of the Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes and National Book Awards. It has over 9,000 members,<ref name=CSUSA-JobPosting/> who receive free legal advice and guidance on contracts with publishers as well as insurance services and assistance with subsidiary licensing and royalties.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.authorsguild.org |title=Authors Guild |access-date=2012-01-12}}</ref>
The group lobbies at the national and state levels on censorship and tax concerns, and it has initiated or supported several major lawsuits in defense of authors' copyrights. In one of those, a class-action suit claiming that Google acted illegally when it scanned millions of copyrighted books without permission, the Authors Guild lost on appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}}
On multiple occasions, Authors Guild has fought the consolidation of the publishing industry through the mergers of large publishers, and it has pressed the publishers to increase royalty rates for ebooks.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/27/business/authors-guild-tries-to-block-proposed-merger-of-2-publishers.html |title=Authors Guild Tries to Block Proposed Merger of 2 Publishers |work=The New York Times|date=1998-04-27|author=Doreen Carvajal|language=en-US|url-status=live|access-date=August 13, 2023|archive-date=August 17, 2014|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140817154610/http://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/27/business/authors-guild-tries-to-block-proposed-merger-of-2-publishers.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.authorsguild.org/advocacy/the-e-book-royalty-mess-an-interim-fix-2/|title=The Ebook Royalty Mess |publisher=The Authors Guild |date=2011-02-11|language=en-US|url-status=live|access-date=August 13, 2023|archive-date=August 17, 2014|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140817154610/http://www.authorsguild.org/advocacy/the-e-book-royalty-mess-an-interim-fix-2/}}</ref>
==History== The original Authors League of America was organized with headquarters in New York City in order "to protect the rights of all authors, whether engaged in literary, dramatic, artistic, or musical competition, and to advise and assist all such authors".<ref>{{cite news|url= http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1912/12/17/100384991.html |title=Authors' League Launched |work=The New York Times|date=1912-12-17}}</ref> In 1921, the Dramatists Guild of America split off as a separate group to represent writers of stage and, later, radio drama.{{fact|date=August 2023}}
Past council presidents of the Authors Guild have included the novelists Pearl S. Buck,<ref>[https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/11-2-16%20Turow%20Testimony.pdf Testimony.pdf]</ref> Rex Stout,<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Week to Remember: Rex Stout |url=https://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/blogs/lapl/week-remember-rex-stout |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=www.lapl.org |language=en}}</ref> Scott Turow,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Turow |first=Scott |date=2013-04-08 |title=Opinion {{!}} The Slow Death of the American Author |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/08/opinion/the-slow-death-of-the-american-author.html |access-date=2023-06-15 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Douglas Preston<ref>{{Cite web |title=Douglas Preston |url=https://us.macmillan.com/author/douglaspreston |access-date=2023-06-15}}</ref> and Madeleine L'Engle,<ref>{{Cite news |date=1981-02-28 |title=Authors Guild Elects Two to Top Positions |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/28/arts/authors-guild-elects-two-to-top-positions.html |access-date=2023-06-15 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> the biographers Anne Edwards<ref>{{Cite journal |last=LeComte |first=Richard |date=2009 |title=Writers Blocked: The Debate over Public Lending Right in the United States during the 1980s |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20720616 |journal=Libraries & the Cultural Record |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=395–417 |issn=1932-4855}}</ref> and Robert Caro,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Authors Guild Council |url=https://authorsguild.org/about/team/council/ |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=The Authors Guild |language=en-US}}</ref> the journalists Herbert Mitgang<ref>{{Cite web |title=Herbert Mitgang, Former Authors Guild and Authors League Fund President, Dies at 93 |url=https://authorsguild.org/news/herbert-mitgang-former-authors-guild-and-authors-league-fund-president-dies-at-93/ |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=The Authors Guild |language=en-US}}</ref> and J. Anthony Lukas,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Haberman |first=Clyde |date=1997-06-07 |title=J. Anthony Lukas, 64, an Author, Is Dead |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/07/nyregion/j-anthony-lukas-64-an-author-is-dead.html |access-date=2023-06-15 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> the children's book author Mary Pope Osborne,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Profile - Mary Pope Osborne - The Authors Guild |url=https://go.authorsguild.org/members/110 |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=go.authorsguild.org}}</ref> and the historians William Shirer<ref>{{Cite news |date=1955-12-15 |title=AUTHORS GUILD ELECTS; William Shirer Is Chosen as President for Next Year |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/12/15/archives/authors-guild-elects-william-shirer-is-chosen-as-president-for-next.html |access-date=2023-06-15 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and Robert Massie.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robert Massie, Pulitzer Prize-winning author who popularized Russian history, dead at 90 |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2019/12/02/robert-massie-author-who-popularized-russian-history-dead-90/2592816001/ |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2014, the guild's members elected Roxana Robinson as president and Judy Blume as vice president.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Authors Guild Members Elect Maya Shanbhag Lang President |url=https://authorsguild.org/news/ag-members-elect-maya-shanbhag-lang-president/ |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=The Authors Guild |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2023, the guild's members elected Maya Shanbhag Lang as president and Mary Bly as vice president.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Authors Guild Members Elect Maya Shanbhag Lang President |url=https://authorsguild.org/news/ag-members-elect-maya-shanbhag-lang-president/ |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=The Authors Guild |language=en-US}}</ref>
The guild has been a persistent critic of controlled digital lending.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Masnick |first=Mike |date=2019-01-31 |title=Authors Guild Attacks Libraries For Lending Digital Books |url=https://www.techdirt.com/2019/01/31/authors-guild-attacks-libraries-lending-digital-books/ |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=Techdirt |language=en-US}}</ref> == Legal cases == === Freelancers' suit ===
In June 2014, the guild announced final approval of an $18-million settlement of a class-action suit it brought in 2000, along with the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the National Writers Union and 21 freelance writers. The suit claimed that major electronics databases such as Lexis-Nexis had violated the rights of thousands of freelancers. Their work had originally appeared in newspapers and magazines including ''The New York Times'' and ''Time'' magazine and had then been resold to the databases without the writers' permission.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/19/business/big-media-v-freelancers-the-justices-at-the-digital-divide.html |title=Big Media v. Freelancers: The Justices at the Digital Divide |work=The New York Times|date=2001-03-19| author = Felicity Barringer and Ralph Blumenthal}}</ref> The publishers had argued that the databases constituted a fair "revision" of the original print articles, but the United States Supreme Court ruled in June 2001 that the writers must be compensated for their digital rights.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/25/technology/25CND-SCOTUS.html |title=Court Sides with Freelancers in Electronic Rights Case |work=The New York Times|date=2001-06-25| author = Linda Greenhouse}}</ref> Further litigation and negotiation led to a settlement that provided payments to the freelancers of up to $1,500 per article.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.copyrightclassaction.com |title=Copyright Class Action Settlement Website |publisher=Copyright Class Action Settlement Website |access-date=2014-08-17}}</ref> The specific amount depended on whether (and, if so, when) an infringed article had been registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.
=== Google Books === {{Main|Authors Guild v. Google}} On September 20, 2005, the Authors Guild, together with Herbert Mitgang, Betty Miles and Daniel Hoffman, filed a class action lawsuit against Google for its Book Search project.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.googlebooksettlement.com/help/bin/answer.py?answer=118704&hl=en#q1 |title=FAQs |access-date=2012-01-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111062640/http://www.googlebooksettlement.com/help/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=118704 |archive-date=2012-01-11 }}</ref> According to the Authors Guild, Google was committing copyright infringement by making digital copies of books that were still protected by copyright. (Google countered that their use was fair according to US copyright law.)
On October 28, 2008, the Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers, and Google announced that they had settled ''Authors Guild v. Google''. Google agreed to a $125 million payout, $45 million of that to be paid to rightsholders whose books were scanned without permission. The Google Book Search Settlement Agreement allowed for legal protection for Google's scanning project, even though neither side changed its position about whether scanning books was fair use or copyright infringement. The Settlement also would have established a new regulatory organization, the Book Rights Registry, which would be responsible for allocating fees from Google to rightsholders.
The settlement between the Authors Guild and Google was rejected in 2011 by a judge at the district court level, who thought the settlement was not in the authors' best interest.<ref>{{cite news |last=Taglioli |first=Dan |url=http://jurist.org/paperchase/2011/03/federal-judge-rejects-google-books-settlement.php |title=Federal judge rejects Google Books settlement |work=Jurist |publisher=Legal News and Research Services, Inc |date=2011-03-23 |access-date=2016-01-05 }}</ref>
In October 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit sided with Google citing fair use and that the scanned and posted excerpts works do not harm the authors by having parts of the books online.<ref>{{cite news |last=Mullin |first=Joe |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/10/appeals-court-rules-that-google-book-scanning-is-fair-use/ |title=Appeals court rules that Google book scanning is fair use |work=Ars Technica |date=2015-10-16 |access-date=2016-01-05 }}</ref>
In late December 2015, the Authors Guild filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court against Google in their long-standing battle over whether copyright laws allow for the search engine to scan and post excerpts from books for the Google Books service,<ref>{{cite news |last=Tsukayama |first=Hayley |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/12/31/the-authors-guild-files-to-take-google-to-the-supreme-court/ |title=The Authors Guild files to take Google to the Supreme Court |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2015-12-31 |access-date=2016-01-05 }}</ref><!--
On October 16, 2015, the Second Circuit "rejected infringement claims from the Authors Guild and several individual writers, and found that the project provides a public service without violating intellectual property law."<ref>{{citation |publisher=Reuters |date=October 16, 2015 |url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/16/us-google-books-idUSKCN0SA1S020151016 |title=Google book-scanning project legal, says U.S. appeals court }}</ref> The Authors Guild petitioned the US Supreme Court,<ref>"We trust that the Supreme Court will see fit to correct the Second Circuit’s reductive understanding of fair use....", Authors Guild, Oct. 16, 2015, [https://www.authorsguild.org/industry-advocacy/2nd-circuit-leaves-authors-high-and-dry/ "2nd Circuit Leaves Authors High and Dry"] (Press Release).</ref>--> which in April 2016 declined to review the case, leaving the lower court's decision standing.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Liptak |first1=Adam |title=Challenge to Google Books Is Declined by Supreme Court |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/19/technology/google-books-case.html |access-date=April 18, 2016 |work=The New York Times |date=April 18, 2016}}</ref>
=== HathiTrust === {{Main|Authors Guild, Inc. v. HathiTrust}}
From 2012 to 2015, the Authors Guild was involved in a legal case regarding HathiTrust, a similar service to Google Books allowing the searching of copyrighted scanned books and the displaying of snippets. As in the Google Books case, this was found to be fair use, and the case was dropped.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Albanese |first=Andrew |date=8 January 2015 |title=Authors Guild Drops HathiTrust Case |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com:443/pw/by-topic/digital/copyright/article/65217-authors-guild-drops-hathitrust-case.html |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=PublishersWeekly.com |language=en}}</ref>
=== NEH === In May 2025, the guild filed a class action lawsuit against the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as well as Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) officials for terminating $175 million in committed grants from Congressional funds. According to the filed lawsuit, the mass termination was considered to be "not only utterly unexpected and unprecedented—it was flagrantly unlawful", as these actions directly violated the Administrative Procedure Act.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/the-authors-guild-sues-neh-doge-1234742016/|author=Francesca Aton|date=May 13, 2025|title=The Authors Guild Sues the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Department of Government Efficiency|work=ART News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/authors-guild-sues-national-endowment-for-humanities-over-grants|author=Sam Skolnik|date=May 13, 2025|title=Authors Guild Sues Humanities Endowment Over Canceled Grants|work=Bloomberg Law News}}</ref> In May 2026, Judge Colleen McMahon ruled that the cuts were unconstitutional and ordered the restoration of the grants.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Schuessler |first=Jennifer |date=2026-05-07 |title=DOGE’s Termination of Humanities Grants Is Ruled Unconstitutional |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/07/arts/neh-grants-lawsuit-doge.html |access-date=2026-05-14 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
==Notable people== * Lucile Saunders McDonald (1898-1992), journalist, historian, and author
==See also== * Books in the United States
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
== External links == * {{Official website}} * {{ProPublicaNonprofitExplorer|132509231}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Authors Guild Category:1912 establishments in New York City Category:Writers' organizations based in the United States Category:Organizations based in New York City Category:Professional associations based in the United States Category:Organizations established in 1912