In September 2024, the District Court’s opinion of March 2023 has been affirmed in favour of publishers Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, John Wiley & Sons, and Penguin Random House, pointing to the liability of Internet Archive for copyright infringement and rejecting Internet Archive’s argument on fair use. “Applying the relevant provisions of the Copyright Act, as well as binding Supreme Court and Second Circuit precedent, we conclude the answer is no,” the Court stated.
Maria Pallante, President and CEO at the Association of American Publishers (AAP) stated “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 antithetical to the public interest. Critically, the Court frontally rejects the defendant’s self-crafted theory of “controlled digital lending,” irrespective of whether the actor is commercial or noncommercial, noting that the ecosystem that makes books possible in fact depends on an enforceable Copyright Act. If there was any doubt, the Court makes clear that under fair use jurisprudence there is nothing transformative about converting entire works into new formats without permission or appropriating the value of derivative works that are a key part of the author’s copyright bundle.”
In addition, International Publishers Association (IPA) Secretary General, José Borghino, said: “IPA welcomes this decision that decisively and thoroughly confirms the value of copyright as a primary incentive to the creation of new works. We look forward to it finally putting an end to IA’s illegal practice of mass digitization of copyrighted works without paying rightsholders or even seeking their permission.”
You can find the full press release from the Association of American Publishers here.
The full decision can be found here.