After a three-year legal battle, the Internet Archive and traditional publishers have come to an agreement regarding the Archive’s controlled digital lending program, which was deemed copyright infringement by a federal judge. Publishers Weekly’s Andrew Albanese has a good summary of the agreement.
Background: The Internet Archive has long scanned print works then lent them as ebooks through its website. At the time publishers filed the suit in 2020, the Archive had converted more than 1 million print works into digital format without permission or compensation. That number is now reaching 5 million.
While the Internet Archive is almost certain to appeal, the two parties have agreed that the Archive may not continue its infringing activities in the interim. The IA must also make a monetary payment if the publishers prevail upon appeal, and the amount will remain confidential. However—and this is a very big however—the judge offered a clarification that the ruling pertains only to books available for sale or license in electronic format. That means the Internet Archive can keep lending books that remain unavailable for sale or license as ebooks.
To learn more, the New York Times has a very sympathetic piece (gift link) that’s partly a look at IA’s founder, Brewster Kahle. It also wades into how this issue has divided the author community. Finally, this high-profile case may have made the Internet Archive a very appealing target for other litigants; music labels are now suing over its digitized record collection.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
