A federal judge has ruled against the Internet Archive Hatchette v. Internet Archive, a lawsuit filed by four book publishers, who decided that the website does not have the right to scan and lend books like a library.
Judge John G. Koeltl ruled that the Internet Archive had done nothing but create “derivative works” and thus needed permission from the books’ copyright holders—the publishers—before lending them through the National Emergency Library program.
The two parties went to court on Monday. We have asked the Internet Archive if it plans to appeal.
In his ruling, Judge Koetl considered whether the Internet Archive operated under the principle of fair use, which rather protected a digital preservation project by Google Books and HathiTrust in 2014. Fair Use considers whether using a copyrighted work is good for the public, how much it impacts the copyright holder, and whether the use has “transformed” a copyrighted thing in something new, among other things. But Koetl wrote that the “perceived benefits” of the Internet Archive’s library “do not outweigh the market damage to the publishers.”
He also dismissed arguments that the Internet Archive would theoretically have helped publishers sell more copies of their books, saying it was “irrelevant” that it bought its own copies of the book before making copies for its online audience.
The lawsuit stemmed from the Internet Archive’s decision to close the “National Emergency Library” at the start of the covid pandemic, enabling people to read from 1.4 million digitized books without a waiting list. Typically, the Internet Archive’s Open Library program operates under a “controlled digital lending” (CDL) system, where it can lend digitized copies of a book on a one-to-one basis, but it has removed waiting lists to restrict access to the books. to open it had at hand because people were forced to stay at home. Some were not happy about that choice, and a group of publishers including Hachette, HarperCollins and Penguin Random House sued the Internet Archive in June 2020.
Janice has been with businesskinda for 5 years, writing copy for client websites, blog posts, EDMs and other mediums to engage readers and encourage action. By collaborating with clients, our SEO manager and the wider businesskinda team, Janice seeks to understand an audience before creating memorable, persuasive copy.