Internet Archive Responds to Appellate Opinion in Hachette v. Internet Archive

upstart writes:

Internet Archive Responds to Appellate Opinion in Hachette v. Internet Archive:

We are disappointed in today's opinion about the Internet Archive's digital lending of books that are available electronically elsewhere. We are reviewing the court's opinion and will continue to defend the rights of libraries to own, lend, and preserve books.

Take Action
Sign the open letter to publishers, asking them to restore access to the 500,000 books removed from our library: https://change.org/LetReadersRead

The Internet Archive Loses Its Appeal of a Major Copyright Case:

The Internet Archive has lost a major legal battle-in a decision that could have a significant impact on the future of internet history. Today, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled against the long-running digital archive, upholding an earlier ruling in Hachette v. Internet Archive that found that one of the Internet Archive's book digitization projects violated copyright law.

Notably, the appeals court's ruling rejects the Internet Archive's argument that its lending practices were shielded by the fair use doctrine, which permits for copyright infringement in certain circumstances, calling it "unpersuasive."

In March 2020, the Internet Archive, a San Francisco-based nonprofit, launched a program called the National Emergency Library, or NEL. Library closures caused by the pandemic had left students, researchers, and readers unable to access millions of books, and the Internet Archive has said it was responding to calls from regular people and other librarians to help those at home get access to the books they needed.

The NEL was an offshoot of an ongoing digital lending project called the Open Library, in which the Internet Archive scans physical copies of library books and lets people check out the digital copies as though they're regular reading material instead of ebooks. The Open Library lent the books to one person at a time-but the NEL removed this ratio rule, instead letting large numbers of people borrow each scanned book at once.

The NEL was the subject of backlash soon after its launch, with some authors arguing that it was tantamount to piracy. In response, the Internet Archive within two months scuttled its emergency approach and reinstated the lending caps. But the damage was done. In June 2020, major publishing houses, including Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, and Wiley, filed the lawsuit.

Read more of this story at SoylentNews.