Implications For Digital Lending And Copyright In Landmark Fair Use Case

In Hachette Book Group, Inc. v. Internet Archive, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit addressed whether Internet Archive's practice of scanning print books and lending them digitally without publisher permission constitutes fair use under the Copyright Act. The central issues involved the right of reproduction and the fair use defense, with the court ultimately affirming the district court's decision against Internet Archive.

The court first analyzed the right of reproduction, emphasizing that the Copyright Act grants the copyright holder the exclusive right to reproduce a work. While Internet Archive properly acquired copies of the print books to be digitized, Internet Archive scanned entire books and offered digital copies without obtaining permission from the publishers, infringing on this exclusive right. While Internet Archive argued that its actions were justified under the fair use doctrine, the court rejected this claim, focusing