Statement on Flawed Theory of “Controlled Digital Lending”

" The Association of American Publishers has reviewed the 2018 documents authored by David R. Hansen and Kyle K. Courtney on the subject of unauthorized library copying for the purpose of digital transmission of entire books to the public. These documents (collectively the “White Paper”) argue that libraries engaging in this activity do not infringe copyright in literary works because such copying and transmission falls within the fair use and first sale doctrines under the invented theory and White Paper definition of “controlled digital lending” (“CDL”).

AAP strongly disagrees with the analysis of the White Paper and its call to libraries to copy and transmit copies of entire books to the public in disregard of the law. CDL not only rationalizes what would amount to systematic infringement, it denigrates the incentives that copyright law provides to authors and publishers to document, write, invest in, and disseminate literary works for the benefit of the public ecosystem...."