Internet Archive Kicks Off Its Appeal Over Publishers Attempt To Kill The Site

Back in March we were greatly dismayed by the the ruling in Hachette v. the Internet Archive over the legality of “controlled digital lending” and the Archive’s “Open Library.” It seemed clear that Judge John Koeltl did not understand some of the fundamentals of fair use (it also appeared that he went into their oral arguments with his decision made up, as he issued a 47-page ruling the very same week — which almost never happens). Koeltl’s analysis left a lot to be desired, as it really seemed to go against an awful lot of fair use precedent.

Judge Koeltl issued his injunction this summer which was, perhaps surprisingly, not as far reaching as the publishers wanted (they wanted the entire Open Library project effectively shut down, and the judge said only books that had ebooks available would have to be taken out of the Open Library).

As expected, the Internet Archive has now officially filed for its appeal in the case, and it has helpfully uploaded its notice of appeal to the Archive itself. This is going to be a big deal and worth following. The 2nd Circuit has a history of being friendly towards fair use arguments, but not overly so. That means it has made some key rulings in favor of fair use, but it also has made some pretty bad rulings against fair use over the years. So… who knows how this will go.

However, it will be an incredibly important case for the future of not just the Archive itself, but the future of libraries as well.