The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a
district court's judgment of copyright infringement against
an internet book archive, holding that its free-to-access library
did not constitute fair use of the copyrighted
books. Hachette Book Group Inc. v. Internet Archive,
Case No. 23-1260 (2d Cir. Sept. 4, 2024)
(Menashi, Robinson, Kahn, JJ.)
Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, John Wiley &
Sons, and Penguin Random House (collectively, the publishers)
brought suit against Internet Archive alleging that its “Free
Digital Library,” which loans copies of the publishers'
books without charge, violated the publishers' copyrights.
Internet Archive argued that its use of the publishers'
copyrighted material fell under the fair use exception to the
Copyright Act because Internet Archive acquired physical books and
digitized them for borrowing (much like a traditional library) and
maintained a 1:1 ratio of borrowed material to physical copies
except for
