Google wants the Authors Guild to drop their bookscanning lawsuit against them. Yesterday, the company told U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin in Manhattan that the guild cannot represent “the owners of book’s copyrights.”

Bloomberg has the story: “Google said in court papers that because the guild doesn’t claim to own the copyrights at issue, it can’t sue on behalf of authors. Google’s lawyer also said today that the company’s scanning project has been an ‘economic benefit’ to many authors.”

The Author’s Guild, who has filed a class action lawsuit against Google seeking statutory damages on behalf of the authors who wrote the millions of books scanned into Google’s digital library, stands by their suit. Bloomberg has more: “‘It would be a terrible burden on the court if each individual author was forced to litigate,’ Joanne Zack, a lawyer for the Authors Guild, told the judge. ‘A class action is superior.’”