Internet Archive's digital book lending violates copyright, US judge rules

A U.S. court ruled that the Internet Archive infringed copyright by scanning and digitally lending protected books, rejecting its claim of fair use. The judge determined that creating digital copies without transformation merely replaced traditional library licenses, thereby exceeding the nonprofit’s legal right to lend physical books. This decision establishes that bulk digitization for lending is not protected under copyright exceptions, prioritizing publishers’ rights over the Archive’s model. The ruling highlights the tension between open access to information and intellectual property protection in the digital age. By denying the "controlled digital lending" approach, the court emphasized that scanning copyrighted works without permission undermines the interests of authors and publishers. This sets a critical precedent for how digital repositories can legally distribute knowledge, limiting their ability to scale free access to currently copyrighted materials. This case is relevant to open data as it challenges the infrastructure behind digital preservation and universal access. It warns that open initiatives relying on copyrighted content may face significant legal barriers if they do not secure proper licenses. Consequently, organizations advocating for open knowledge must navigate stricter copyright enforcement, ensuring that efforts to democratize information do not inadvertently violate established intellectual property laws.

Source: digbycourier.ca
Published on 2025-02-22

Internet Archive's digital book lending violates copyright, US judge rules

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