From: "Smith, Kevin L" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, 2 Jun 2020 13:10:39 +0000

If anyone is interested in reading it, here is a link to the complaint filed in the case.

 

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900/gov.uscourts.nysd.537900.1.0.pdf


To me, there are two especially interesting features about this case.  First, the complaint does not contain any extended argument about fair use. It asserts that IA is not making a fair use, and it states that their use is not transformative, but it never actually analyzes the fair use factors.  It is, in my opinion, more anger than argument.

 

The other remarkable feature is the timing of the lawsuit and its announcement.  On the day that the Hennepin County Medical Examiner called the death of George Floyd a homicide, and at a time when our nation is gripped with turmoil over systemic racism, whining about “disrespect for the copyright value chain” seems misplaced and myopic.

 

Kevin

 

Kevin L. Smith, M.L.S., J.D.

Dean of Libraries

University of Kansas

 

 

From: "Pilch, Janice T" <[log in to unmask]>

Date: Mon, 1 Jun 2020 19:59:11 +0000

People may be interested in knowing that this morning four publishers in the Association of American Publishers—Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, John Wiley & Sons and Penguin Random House—filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the Internet Archive in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Alleging "a profound disrespect for the value chain of copyright," the lawsuit concerns both the Internet Archive’s National Emergency Library and its Open Library and assert that the Internet Archive "systematically produces bootleg digital copies of books and distributes them to the global public on a massive scale." 

 

https://publishers.org/news/publishers-file-suit-against-internet-archive-for-systematic-mass-scanning-and-distribution-of-literary-works/

 

Eventually we can expect a determination of whether the Internet Archive's unauthorized uncontrolled digital access under the label of "controlled digital lending" is "fair" or unfair.

 

My best,

 

Janice T. Pilch

Member of the Library Faculty

Rutgers University Libraries

 

[SNIP]