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Publishers Sue the Internet Archive Over its Open Library, Declare it a Pirate Site
Several major publishers have filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in a New York court targeting the Internet Archive's Open Library. According to the complaint, the project is a massive and willful infringement project that amounts to little more than a regular pirate site.
Back in March, the Internet Archive responded to the coronavirus pandemic by offering a new service to help "displaced learners".
Combining scanned books from three libraries, the Archive offered unlimited borrowing of more than a million books, so that people could continue to learn while in quarantine.
While the move was welcomed by those in favor of open access to education, publishers and pro-copyright groups slammed the decision, with some describing it as an attempt to bend copyright law and others declaring the project as mass-scale piracy.
Today, major publishers Hachette Book Group, Inc., HarperCollins Publishers LLC, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., and Penguin Random House LLC went to war with the project by filing a copyright infringement lawsuit against the Internet Archive and five 'Doe' defendants in a New York court.
Complaint (PDF).
See also: Lawsuit over online book lending could bankrupt Internet Archive
Previously: Internet Archive's Open Library Now Supports Full-Text Searches for All 4+ Million Items
Internet Archive Suspends E-Book Lending "Waiting Lists" During U.S. National Emergency
Authors Fume as Online Library "Lends" Unlimited Free Books
University Libraries Offer Online "Lending" of Scanned In-Copyright Books
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 03 2020, @09:04PM (2 children)
I expect the Internet Archive has been scrupulous in making sure they follow all the rules
I seriously doubt that.
Now most of the junk is basically abandoned. So no one really cares. But there is stuff that is in their romz that clearly some companies care about. You can pretty much every DOS game ever in some sets. Clearly GoG would have something to say about that.
IA has toed the line for a long time. They pretty much said 'hey if you think so we will take it down'. They have quite a large amount of stuff in that category at this point. The removal of the limiter on books was just a bit too far. It will probably end up in court. With IA saying 'soooooorrrrry' and nothing really happens.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 04 2020, @10:41AM
I highly doubt that GOG will want to say anything negative about archive.org
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday June 05 2020, @10:58AM
Complying with the occasional DMCA takedown can go a long way towards protecting your piracy haven. Although maybe that won't work in this case if they are deemed to have facilitated massive infringement.
The voodoo of the "lending system" could also be useful for pulling the wool over a technologically challenged judge's eyes.
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