A federal judge ruled against the Internet Archive in its high-profile case against a group of four US publishers led by the Hachette Book Group. By Judge John G. Koeltl ruled Friday that the nonprofit organization had infringed the group’s copyright by lending digitally scanned copies of its books.
The lawsuit stemmed from the Internet Archive’s decision to launch the “National Emergency Library” during the early days of the pandemic. The program saw the organization offer more than 1.4 million free e-books, including copyrighted works, in response to libraries around the world closing their doors due to coronavirus lockdown measures.
Prior to March 2020, the Internet Archive’s Open Library program operated under what’s known as a “controlled digital lending” system, meaning there was often a waiting list to borrow a book from its collection. When the pandemic hit, the Internet Archive lifted those restrictions to make it easier for people to access reading material while stuck at home. He he was quick to disagree with the effort. And in June 2020, Hachette, as well as HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, and John Wiley & Sons, accused the organization of enabling “deliberate mass copyright infringement.” That same month, the Internet Archive.
Before this week’s trial, the Internet Archive argued that the initiative was protected by the principle of fair use, which allows unlicensed use of copyrighted works in some circumstances. As HathiTrust, an offshoot of the Google Book Search project, successfully used a similar argument in 2014 to of the Authors Guild. However, Judge Koeltl rejected the Internet Archive’s position, stating that “there is nothing transformative” about lending unauthorized copies of books. “Although [the Internet Archive] You have the right to lend out printed books that you legally acquired, you don’t have the right to scan those books and lend out the digital copies en masse.” he wrote. . . . Maria Pallante, President and CEO of the American Publishers Association, saying the ruling “underscored the importance of authors, publishers and creative markets in a global society.”
On Saturday, the Internet Archive said it would appeal the decision. “Libraries are more than customer service departments for corporate database products. For democracy to thrive on a global scale, libraries must be able to maintain their historic role in society: owning, preserving and lending books,” the nonprofit organization wrote in a statement. . “This ruling is a blow to libraries, readers and authors and we plan to appeal it.”
