Attorneys for Audible and seven major publishers told the court this week that they have resolved their high profile copyright lawsuit over Audible's proposed 'Captions' program.
In a January 13 letter, Audible attorney Emily Reisbaum “writing on behalf of all parties,” informed Judge Valerie Caproni that the sides “have resolved their disputes,” and asked the judge to give them until January 21 to allow the parties to submit signed settlement documents to the Court for approval. The settlement was expected after a December 27 letter, in which the parties told the court a final resolution was within reach.
The AAP had no comment on the resolution of the case at this time and Audible did not return emails asking for details of the agreement.
First filed in August of 2019 by seven publishers, the suit claimed that Audible’s proposed Captions program, which scrolls a few words of an AI-generated transcription alongside an audiobook’s narration in the Audible app, amounted to blatant copyright infringement. Audible countered that the Captions program enhanced the audio experience, and was protected by fair use.
But despite the high-profile litigation, the program has not yet launched to the general public, not even for works in the public domain, where copyright is not an issue.
