NEW YORK– An appeals court has upheld an earlier finding that the Online Internet Archive violated copyright law by scanning and sharing digital books without the publisher’s permission.
Four major publishers: Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, John Wiley & Sons and Penguin Random House had sued the Archives in 2020 for illegally offering free copies of more than 100 books, including fiction by Toni Morrison and JD Salinger. The Archives had countered that it was protected by fair use law.
In 2023, a judge at the US District Court in Manhattan ruled in favor of the publishers and granted them a permanent injunction. On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit agreed, asking the question: Was the Internet Archive’s lending program, a “National Emergency Library” launched early in the pandemic, an example of fair use?
“Applying the relevant provisions of the Copyright Act and the binding precedent of the Supreme Court and the Second Circuit, we conclude that the answer is no,” the appeals court ruled.
In a statement Wednesday, Association of American Publishers President and CEO Maria Pallante called the decision a victory for the publishing community.
“Today’s appellate decision upholds the rights of authors and publishers to license and be compensated for their books and other creative works and reminds us in no uncertain terms that infringement is both costly and contrary to the public interest,” said Pallante.
The Archives’ director of library services, Chris Freeland, called the ruling a disappointment.
“We are reviewing the court’s opinion and will continue to defend the rights of libraries to own, lend and preserve books,” he said in a statement.
