Re: Seems counterproductive...
Except they aren't simply serving snippets they are scanning and indexing the whole book, and the fact that they actively have to engage in scanning, then using ocr to convert the book to the machine readable files moves them well outside 'fair use' coverage. In fact, it pretty much moves them into Napster territory. Well, actually beyond Napster territory because Napster at least had the fig leaf that they weren't the one uploading the unauthorized music, while Google are actively doing it.
Once you understand the legal implications of that, you understand why Google's lawyers want the class action status resolved first. Resolve the copyright issue first and it's a slam dunk for the authors. Once that's established, class action makes perfect sense. If on the other hand you can split out all the suits into a mouse versus Goliath, the mouse is probably gonna lose, repeatedly.