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Freeman [soylentnews.org] writes:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/08/record-labels-sue-internet-archive-for-digitizing-obsolete-vintage-records/ [arstechnica.com]

Major record labels are suing the Internet Archive, accusing the nonprofit of "massive" and "blatant" copyright infringement "of works by some of the greatest artists of the Twentieth Century."

The lawsuit [arstechnica.net] was filed Friday in a US district court in New York by UMG Recordings, Capitol Records, Concord Bicycle Assets, CMGI, Sony Music Entertainment, and Arista Music. It targets the Internet Archive's "Great 78 Project," [archive.org] which was launched in 2006.

For the Great 78 Project, the Internet Archive partners with recording engineer George Blood— who is also a defendant in the lawsuit—to digitize sound recordings on 78 revolutions-per-minute (RPM) records. These early sound recordings are typically of poor quality and were made between 1898 and the late 1950s by using very brittle materials. The goal of the Great 78 Project was to preserve these early recordings so they would not be lost as records break and could continue to be studied as originally recorded.

In a blog [archive.org] post responding to the record labels' lawsuit, Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle said that the Internet Archive is currently reviewing the challenge and taking it seriously. However, Kahle characterizes the Great 78 Project as providing "free public access to a largely forgotten but culturally important medium," claiming that "there shouldn’t be conflict here."
[...]
Days after record labels filed their complaint, a court document [publishersweekly.com] was unsealed showing that the Internet Archive had reached a joint agreement with book publishers due to the publishers' legal victory earlier this year. If the judge signs off, the agreement would permanently bar the Internet Archive from lending any unauthorized scans of books when authorized e-book versions exist, Publishers Weekly reported [publishersweekly.com].

The Internet Archive would also be barred from profiting from any infringing works.

It's unclear how high the damages are in this case, but the agreement includes an all-inclusive "confidential monetary settlement" that "substantially" covers publishers' legal fees and costs, as well as damages and other claims. Previously it was estimated that the case could cost Internet Archive more than $19 million, which The Register reported [theregister.com] amounts to approximately half of the nonprofit's 2019 budget.

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