Online library drops its legal battle to provide free e-books without publishers’ permission

By Hillel Italie, The Associated Press on December 6, 2024.

NEW YORK (AP) – A prolonged and closely watched copyright case involving an online library’s unauthorized offering of free e-books has ended after the defendant, Internet Archive, decided not to challenge an appeal’s court’s ruling against it.

In September, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a Manhattan federal court’s decision that found the Archive in violation of copyright law and granted a permanent injunction. The Archive had until this week to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but declined to do so.

In 2020, four major publishers – Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, John Wiley & Sons and Penguin Random House – sued the Archive, alleging that it had illegally provided free copies of more than 100 books, including fiction by Toni Morrison and J.D. Salinger. The Archive had contended that its program of scanning and sharing books, “controlled digital lending,” was protected by fair use law.

“After five years of litigation, we are thrilled to see this important case rest with the decisive opinion of the Second Circuit, which leaves no room for arguments that “˜controlled digital lending’ is anything more than infringement,” Maria A. Pallante, president and CEO of the Association of American Publishers, said in a statement.

The Archive’s director of library services, Chris Freeland, posted a brief statement on the Archive’s web site saying that “While we are deeply disappointed with the Second Circuit’s opinion,” they would “continue to honor” an agreement to “remove books from lending at their member publishers’ requests.”

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