Internet Archive sued by publishers

Four of the country’s biggest publishers Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins and Wiley have sued a digital library for copyright infringement, alleging the Internet Archive has illegally offered more than a million scanned works to the public, including such favorites as Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon” and Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road.”

“Without any license or any payment to authors or publishers, Internet Archive scans print books, uploads these illegally scanned books to its servers, and distributes verbatim digital copies of the books in whole via public-facing websites,” according to papers filed Monday in federal court Monday in New York. “With just a few clicks, any Internet-connected user can download complete digital copies of in-copyright books.”

In March, the Internet Archive announced it had established a “National Emergency Library” in response to the coronavirus outbreak that had shut down most of the country’s schools and libraries. According to the Archive, the emergency library would support “remote teaching, research activities, independent scholarship, and intellectual stimulation” with free digital materials.

The Archive has defended its recent actions by saying that it operates like a traditional lending library. The publishers say the archive does not work that way, in part, because it offers scans of pbooks without reaching licensing deals. The Archive has said it acquires paperback and hardcover books through purchases and donations and then scans them.