Amazon Sued by Publishers Claiming Audible Text Service Violates Copyright

Amazon.com Inc.’s Audible was sued by some of the top U.S. publishers for copyright infringement on Friday, aiming to block a planned rollout of a feature called ‘Audible Captions’ that shows the text on screen as a book is narrated.

The lawsuit was filed by seven members of the Association of American Publishers (AAP), including HarperCollins Publishers, Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan Publishers.

“Essentially Audible wants to provide the text as well as the sound of books without the authorization of copyright holders, despite only having the right to sell audiobooks,” AAP said in a statement.

The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Audible did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Ayanti Bera in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)