The Internet Archive appeals a US judge's decision in March 2023 favoring publishers in a copyright infringement case over the nonprofit's ebook lending program
As expected, the Internet Archive this week submitted its appeal in Hachette v. Internet Archive, the closely-watched copyright case involving …
Context & Ripple Effects
The appeal follows a March ruling for four publishers over the Archive’s Controlled Digital Lending program, after litigation centered on whether scanned books could be lent digitally under the nonprofit’s model. The dispute had already prompted the Archive to drop the publishers’ full book catalogs.
This is a consequential test of the boundaries of digital-library access: the lower-court decision put publishers’ licensing and distribution control ahead of the Archive’s lending framework. Later coverage records that the Archive ultimately lost its appeal, underscoring the stakes of this filing.
First-order effects
- Internet Archive keeps the ebook-lending case alive on appeal rather than accepting the district court’s ruling; the publisher plaintiffs must defend that judgment.
- The publishers’ position that the Archive’s program infringes copyright remains the operative legal result while the appeal proceeds, constraining access to affected titles.
Second-order effects
- Libraries and other digital-lending initiatives have a clearer incentive to rely on licensed ebook arrangements rather than models built around scanning and lending owned print copies.
- A favorable appellate outcome for publishers would strengthen their negotiating position over digital catalog availability and terms, particularly for nonprofit lending services.
Third-order effects
- The case tests whether digital-library migration can preserve print-library lending assumptions or instead requires publisher-controlled licensing; the outcome helps define the legal boundary for similar services.
- If courts continue to reject this lending model, access institutions may face a more durable divide between owning physical copies and obtaining rights to circulate digital ones.
The trend: Copyright disputes are increasingly determining whether digital access to books is governed by traditional library ownership or by licensing arrangements set by rightsholders.