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From what I understand, copyright holders (which, interestingly, is not nearly the same list as "authors") are saying "don't do this project" and "don't put our books in this project" as opposed to what Google asked which is "send us a list of works that you don't want in our project."
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Yes, but like it or not, the copyright owners own the rights - NOT Google. It should not be incumbent on them to "opt out" - it should be incumbent on Google to get permission. THAT is how copyright works.
A copyright owner is not required to tell each and every person on the planet that they don't want their property copied. That is what copyright does in the first place.
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On the contrary, this would have brought everything to court much sooner - before anything got started. We already know what the publishers would have said: "No!"
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It could not have gotten to court because no action was being taken if they went and asked permission first. If the owners say no - guess what? THAT IS THEIR RIGHT, and it should be respected.
Google handled this VERY poorly, and I don't see how anyone with a brain couldn't have forseen the reaction.