A federal judge has sided with four publishers who sued an online archive over its unauthorized scanning of millions of copyrighted works and offering them for free to the public. Judge John G. Koeltl of U.S. District Court in Manhattan ruled that the Internet Archive was producing “derivative” works that required permission of the copyright holder. . The Archive was not transforming the books in question into something new, but simply scanning them and lending them as ebooks from its web site. “An ebook recast from a print book is a paradigmatic example of a derivative work,” Koeltl wrote. The Archive, which announced it would appeal Friday's decision, has said its actions were protected by fair use laws and has long had a broader mission of making information widely available, a common factor in legal cases involving online copyright. “Libraries are more than the customer service departments for corporate database products," Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle wrote in a blog post Friday. "For democracy to thrive at global scale, libraries must be able to sustain their historic role in society — owning, preserving, and lending books. This ruling is a blow for libraries, readers, and authors and we plan to appeal it.” In June 2020, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, John Wiley & Sons, and Penguin Random House sued in response to the Archive's National Emergency Library, a broad expansion of its ebook lending service begun in the early weeks of the pandemic, when many physical libraries and bookstores had shut down. The publishers sought action against the emergency library and the archive's older and more limited program, controlled digital lending (CDL). Works by Toni Morrison, J.D. Salinger and Terry Pratchett were among the copyrighted texts publishers cited as being made available. . A district judge determined that the Internet Archive infringed on copyright laws by digitizing and distributing books without obtaining the necessarylicensing.. Copyright Infringement, Digital Lending, Fair Use Laws, Online Archives. . Brittany Day
When Adam Bresson showed how to make copies of copyright-protected videos in a speech at a hacker conference this weekend he realized he was risking arrest for violating U.S. copyright law that landed a Russian man behind bars after the same event last year.. . .. When Adam Bresson showed how to make copies of copyright-protected videos in a speech at a hacker conference this weekend he realized he was risking arrest for violating U.S. copyright law that landed a Russian man behind bars after the same event last year. But 28-year-old Bresson had his mother, brother and grandparents in the audience and his girlfriend videotaping his talk at the three-day DefCon conference, just in case he was accused of treading too close to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA). "There's a fine line between creating technologies that bypass copyright protections and demonstrating them," he said Monday. "I decided to do it because I think the message is important." His message: people's rights to make "fair use" copies of copyrighted material for personal use are being eroded by copyright holders. The link for this article located at ComputerWorld is no longer available. . During his talk at a cybersecurity symposium, Adam Bresson delves into the complexities surrounding intellectual property and the nuances of fair use privileges.. Copyright Law, Fair Use Rights, Hacker Activism, DMCA Discussion. . Anthony Pell
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