EFF & Heavyweight Legal Team Will Defend Internet Archive's Digital Library Against Publishers
The EFF has revealed it is teaming up with law firm Durie Tangri to defend the Internet Archive against a lawsuit targeting its Open Library. According to court filings, the impending storm is shaping up to be a battle of the giants, with opposing attorneys having previously defended Google in book scanning cases and won a $1bn verdict for the RIAA against ISP Cox.
In March and faced with the chaos caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Internet Archive (IA) launched its National Emergency Library (NEL). Built on its existing Open Library, the NEL provided users with unlimited borrowing of more than a million books, something which the IA hoped would help "displaced learners" restricted by quarantine measures.
After making a lot of noise in opposition to both the Open and Emergency libraries, publishers Hachette, HarperCollins, John Wiley and Penguin Random House filed a massive copyright infringement lawsuit against the Internet Archive.
[...] Last evening the EFF announced that it is joining forces with California-based law firm Durie Tangri to defend the Internet Archive against a lawsuit which they say is a threat to IA's Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) program. The CDL program allows people to check out scanned copies of books for which the IA and its partners can produce physically-owned copies. The publishers clearly have a major problem with the system but according to IA and EFF, the service is no different from that offered by other libraries. "EFF is proud to stand with the Archive and protect this important public service," says EFF Legal Director Corynne McSherry.
Previously: 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
Publishers Sue the Internet Archive Over its Open Library, Declare it a Pirate Site
Internet Archive Ends "Emergency Library" Early to Appease Publishers
(Score: 3, Insightful) by TheReaperD on Monday June 29 2020, @10:34PM (1 child)
Trying to force people to pay for the same thing 2, 3 or 4 times is now standard operating procedure by the copyright cartels (aka publishers, in this instance, but applies to the industry as a whole). They decided that you paying once for an item is no longer sufficient. It won't be long until they start demanding a full repeal of the first sale doctrine [USA law backed by many court cases that once you pay for something, it's yours and the publisher no longer has rights to it] instead of just the limitations put on it by the DCMA [Digital Millennium Copyright Act] and demand that you start paying per-item subscription fees to all content, including content you already own.
Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday June 30 2020, @04:59PM
Including content that you yourself created. Or that is a nature recording.
Santa/Satan maintains a database and does double verification of it.