Google is being sued over its plans to digitise the world's libraries. The US Authors Guild filed a class action suit today in a federal court in Manhattan, alleging that Google is engaging in widespread copyright infringement at the expense of the rights of individual writers. 

"This is a plain and brazen violation of copyright law," said Authors Guild president Nick Taylor.

"It is not up to Google, or anyone other than the authors, the rightful owners of these copyrights, to decide whether and how their works will be copied."

The suit stems from a deal Google signed with the New York Public Library and the university libraries of Stanford, Harvard, Oxford and Michigan to digitise their works.

The Authors Guild claims that the writers of these works, some of which are still under copyright, have not been consulted. The organisation is demanding an injunction to stop the process, and is seeking damages.

Last month Google put its scanning schedule on hold until November to allow authors more time to withdraw books from the process. The search giant has promised not to digitise any work if the author objects, but has left the onus on the authors to act.

Google's eventual plan is to have every book ever printed available for viewing over a web browser, either in its entirety if the copyright has elapsed or as a summary if not.