Amazon's Audible is asking a federal judge to dismiss a copyright lawsuit over its
upcoming speech-to-text feature, which will allow people to read along while listening to books.
“Audible Captions is a quintessential fair use,” the company says in papers filed
Thursday with U.S. District Court Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan. “Audible Captions is not a book of any kind, much less a replacement for paper books, e-books, or cross-format
products.”
Audible's argument comes in response to a lawsuit filed late last month by seven large publishers. They claim Audible's captioning service infringes their rights by
“taking copyrighted works and repurposing them for its own benefit without permission.”
The publishers have asked for an injunction prohibiting Audible from releasing the
service.
Audible counters in its court papers that its service is permitted under fair use principles for several reasons, including that its purpose is educational.
“After
listeners purchase an audiobook ... Audible Captions can help listeners understand it by looking up unfamiliar words, accessing reference materials, or simply verifying and focusing on what they are
hearing,” the company writes. “This will facilitate access for listeners who have difficulty engaging with audiobooks (or literature in general).”
The company adds that the
captioning service “may break through troubling and persistent barriers to access that are reflected in declining reading rates.”
Audible also says its licensing agreements with
the publishers precludes them from suing over the captioning feature.
“The law is clear,” Audible writes “By agreeing to those licenses, Plaintiffs waived their right to sue
for copyright infringement as a result of licensed conduct.”
Additionally, Audible argues that the publishers aren't entitled to an injunction before trial, because they haven't shown
that Audible's captioning feature will “irreparably harm” their sales.
The company adds that the captioning feature can always be disabled in the future, should the publishers
prevail on their copyright claims.
Caproni is expected to hold a hearing in the matter on September 25.