Authors Alliance says the court mischaracterized how the Internet Archive's lending affects most authors
Authors AllianceNonprofit author advocacy organization
Authors Alliance calls the court's portrayal of the public benefit of the Internet Archive's lending a gross generalization and mischaracterization of how it affects most authors. It argues that authors are researchers and readers who benefit from the digital library.
“IA’s digital library helps authors create new works and supports their interests in having their works read.”
Analysis
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
Analysis
About this source
The organization criticizes the decision while noting that it concerns the particular lending practice and works before the court.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Authors Alliance quotes the court's statement that while the Internet Archive claims prohibiting its practices would harm consumers and researchers, allowing them harms authors.
After the quotation
It says the ruling may benefit the largest publishers and most prominent authors, but will end up harming more than it helps for most.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The reference point is Internet Archive's unlicensed controlled digital lending. The speaker defends that practice and its public benefits.
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The Dispute Index. "Authors Alliance says the court mischaracterized how the Internet Archive's lending affects most authors". First published: 2026-10-28. Last updated: 2026-10-28. https://disputeindex.com/events/6998-authors-alliance-calls-the-court-s-portrayal-of