Friday’s Endnotes – 09/06/24

Appeals Court Upholds Decision Against Internet Archive’s Book Scanning Program — “In a swift decision, a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has unanimously affirmed a March 2023 lower court decision finding the Internet Archive’s program to scan and lend print library books is copyright infringement. In an emphatic 64-page decision, released on September 4, the court rejected the Internet Archive’s fair use defense, as well as the novel protocol known as ‘controlled digital lending’ on which the Archive’s scanning and lending is based.”

Charlesworth on Generative AI Training and Fair Use — “The exploitation of copied works for their intrinsic expressive value sharply distinguishes AI copying from that at issue in the technological fair use cases relied upon by AI’s fair use advocates. In these earlier cases, the determination of fair use turned on the fact that the alleged infringer was not seeking to capitalize on expressive content-exactly the opposite of generative AI.”

End of the Line for Controlled Digital Lending Theory — “To those who believe the law should be different to facilitate IA’s alleged social benefit, I have considered the intent of CDL (and the alleged burden of eBook licensing) and find no evidence to support the claim that CDL fulfils an unmet need. In fact, as stated in past posts, Kahle’s dream of digitizing everything and making it all freely available is not only harmful to future authorship but is a threat to local libraries. Further, it bears repeating that the publishers in this case represent thousands of authors, while IA represents the interests of no authors.”

Singapore’s New Copyright Act Three Years On: There’s No Need to Open the AI Exception Door Even Wider — “Singapore’s Copyright Act review exercise needs to result in a balanced approach that protects creative industries while allowing for text and data mining within reasonable limits. The TDM exception door is already open very wide.  Kicking it open even wider would be a serious policy mistake.”

District Court Issues Mixed Ruling in Blackbeard Copyright Case — “On August 29, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina issued an order addressing several motions in Allen v. Cooper, a case that mirrors the back-and-forth nature of an epic maritime battle—this time, between a government and an individual.”