Judge Castel denied, without prejudice and subject to a possible renewed motion when class certification is considered, the motion of Proposed-Intervenor Dr. Kenneth Saladin, a distinguished professor emeritus of biology at Georgia College & State University.
Saladin proposed to represent a subclass of textbook authors in the copyright suit mainly publishers filed against Meta and Mark Zuckerberg in the Southern District of New York.
Meanwhile, Meta is moving to transfer this book publisher and author case to the Northern District of California where Meta faces similar book author and publisher lawsuits.
Another development: Judge Castel noted for the record that his spouse (Mary Castel) published a book by Kent State University Press in June 2025 so could potentially fall within the excluded members from the class. (Unclear though whether a book published in June 2025 would fall within the class of works Meta allegedly used to train.)
DOWNLOAD DR. SALADIN’S LETTER/MOTION TO INTERVENE