Judge rules online archive's book service violated copyright (Internet Archive)

MSN/CBS News ^ | 3/25/2023 | CBS News

[Faith Presses On]

A federal judge has sided with four publishers who sued an online archive over its unauthorized scanning of millions of copyrighted works and offering them for free to the public...

(snip)

In June 2020, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, John Wiley & Sons, and Penguin Random House sued in response to the Archive's National Emergency Library, a broad expansion of its ebook lending service begun in the early weeks of the pandemic, when many physical libraries and bookstores had shut down.

[sasquatch]

Don’t know about ‘free’ but years ago Google planned on scanning every book printed.

[dfwgator]

I see a lot of stuff on Internet Archive, and wondered how they get away with it.

[LouAvul]

I use the Gutenberg Project. Never heard of this other guy.

[Honest Nigerian]

So why doesn’t this thinking apply to YouTube?
Recording artists don’t have similar rights?

[nicollo]

Google’s project got shut down in terms of distribution. I only know, generally, that a court ruled that Google and others who scan printed material have a right to digitize it but not a right to sell or distribute it freely.

Libraries are more interesting, as they purchase books, then loan them out without transferring ownership. Seems to me that archive.org does just that.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

They do and you have to assert those rights.

You might notice you can not find some artists on Youtube. That is because they actively assert their rights.

Others know that if people hear them on-line that they will want more. And without the stupid commercials and with better sound.

[Faith Presses On]

The Archive is similar to a library. For some books, there is a waiting list.

And too, there are other web sites that offer similar services, provided one is signed in through one’s local library. Hoopla and Libby are two.

[Faith Presses On]

I’ve also used Gutenberg. But the Internet Archive is probably the most known and used, and you’re likely familiar with it, too. It’s probably most used for web sites/news articles that any user can archive: web.archive.org.

Two other sites for books are Libby and Hoopla, which are accessed using one’s local library card. I’m not sure how many libraries have deals with them, but probably most.

[Perseverando]

Maybe better than Archive.org is http://www.pdfdrive.com/

[Seruzawa]

This is true. And it hurts their bottom line. Movie companies don’t do this so much because they understand the value of getting their products seen. If some music artists want to make sure that no one ever hears or buys their 20 year old albums, that’s just too bad for them.

[curious7]

The scanned books were purchased, not by a single library, but by a crowd of people. IA only lets one person at a time check out a scanned copy of the book. Sounds like a library to me, only organized online.

[algore]

I am a huge fan of the Archive and applaud why they have done over the years

I certainly don’t like Mickey Mouse copyright laws either.

But what the Archive did here was just beyond stupid.

[algore]

Archive.org

[Hiddigeigei]

"I use the Gutenberg Project. Never heard of this other guy."
I have about a thousand books that I have down-loaded and put on a DVD for my personal library. I've given the disk to a few family members and old friends. All of the titles are "out-of print" (copy right expired). I grew up in the 1930s in a family house that had a library of over 5,000 books from three generations. Some I did inherit, but I wish I had all of them now. I remember reading a translation of Casanova's Memories at about ten years old. Casanova tried to talk Fredrick-the-Great into setting up a national lottery.

[New Perspective]

Very nice, thank you.