Internet Archive continues to defend library lending rights
Internet ArchiveInstitutional statement by Chris Freeland
Internet Archive expresses disappointment with the appellate decision and continues to defend libraries' ownership, lending and preservation of books.
Responding to
Controlled digital lending of owned in-copyright books should qualify as fair use without publishers' permission.
“will continue to defend the rights of libraries to own, lend, and preserve books.”
Official statement
Where this statement fits
Should the Internet Archive need publishers' permission to lend scans of in-copyright books it owns?
In June 2020, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, John Wiley & Sons and Penguin Random House sued the Internet Archive for scanning print books and lending the digital copies online without their permission, usually one borrower at a time for each print copy the Archive or a partner library owned. A federal district court in New York rejected the Archive's fair-use defense on March 24, 2023, and on September 4, 2024, the Second Circuit affirmed, finding the lending noncommercial but not transformative and declining to carve out books the Archive owns itself. The Archive, represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, called the practice controlled digital lending and said it is what libraries have always done with the books they acquire; the Association of American Publishers said authors and publishers have the right to license and be paid for their books. On December 4, 2024, the Archive said it would not seek Supreme Court review, ending the case, but would keep advocating for libraries to own and lend digital books. The dispute is over whether owning a print copy of an in-copyright book should let the Archive lend a scan of it without the publisher's permission.
Source and context
Official statement
About this source
Internet Archive expresses disappointment and defends library ownership, lending and preservation. The source notes that the books at issue were also available electronically elsewhere.
Before the quotation
The post, by Chris Freeland, the Archive's director of library services, opens: "We are disappointed in today's opinion about the Internet Archive's digital lending of books that are available electronically elsewhere." It then says the Archive is reviewing the court's opinion.
After the quotation
The post then invites readers to sign an open letter asking publishers to restore access to the 500,000 books removed from the Archive's library, and links to the court's opinion.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The case asks whether the Internet Archive should need publishers' permission to lend scans of in-copyright books it owns. On the day the Second Circuit ruled against it, the Archive says it is disappointed and "will continue to defend the rights of libraries to own, lend, and preserve books". That keeps up its defense of lending scanned books without the publishers' permission, so we labeled it Defended or excused. The closest competing label is Mixed or conditional, since the Archive says it is still reviewing the opinion; it loses because it attaches no condition to its defense of library lending.
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More from this case
Read the full caseAAP says authors and publishers should control the terms of digital access
Association of American Publishers
“when authors and their publisher licensees can decide the terms on which they make their works available.”Read statement
AAP says unauthorized lending harms the public interest
Association of American Publishers
“infringement is both costly and antithetical to the public interest.”Read statement
EFF defends controlled digital lending on appeal
Electronic Frontier Foundation
“Action: Filed an appellate brief for Internet Archive defending controlled digital lending of owned books as fair use.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Internet Archive continues to defend library lending rights". First published: 2026-10-11. Last updated: 2026-10-11. https://disputeindex.com/events/5538-internet-archive-expresses-disappointment-with-the-appellate-decision