Internet Archive’s policy counsel
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2025 4:29 am
Interest in the lawsuit crossed over into mainstream channels following a viral tweet about the filing, which kicked off a lengthy online conversation about library rights, digital lending and digital ownership.
After a series of standard filings across the summer and early fall, on October 8, Internet Archive filed the final brief in support of our motion for summary judgment, asking the Court to dismiss the lawsuit because our lending program is a fair use.
What does the lawsuit mean for the future of libraries? , Peter Routhier, considers how the publishers view libraries based on their filings.
Check out the Hachette v. Internet Archive page at EFF for all filings and resources.
One message really resonated online—people were surprised to learn that the Internet Archive has a physical archive that preserves all the physical books we’ve acquired and digitized.
eBooks, #OwnBooks & digital ownership
2022 might go down as the year that people started to phone number library really understand what it means when libraries & individuals can no longer own content, like when streaming-only content vanishes from media platforms.
Musician Max Collins wrote in Popula how “owning media is now an act of countercultural defiance,” walking readers through his first-hand example of how the streaming model doesn’t work for artists, only corporations.
Brewster Kahle published, “Digital Books wear out faster than Physical Books,” countering the notion put forward by publishers that ebooks don’t wear out. In fact, Brewster notes that ebooks require “constant maintenance—reprocessing, reformatting, re-invigorating or they will not be readable or read.
After a series of standard filings across the summer and early fall, on October 8, Internet Archive filed the final brief in support of our motion for summary judgment, asking the Court to dismiss the lawsuit because our lending program is a fair use.
What does the lawsuit mean for the future of libraries? , Peter Routhier, considers how the publishers view libraries based on their filings.
Check out the Hachette v. Internet Archive page at EFF for all filings and resources.
One message really resonated online—people were surprised to learn that the Internet Archive has a physical archive that preserves all the physical books we’ve acquired and digitized.
eBooks, #OwnBooks & digital ownership
2022 might go down as the year that people started to phone number library really understand what it means when libraries & individuals can no longer own content, like when streaming-only content vanishes from media platforms.
Musician Max Collins wrote in Popula how “owning media is now an act of countercultural defiance,” walking readers through his first-hand example of how the streaming model doesn’t work for artists, only corporations.
Brewster Kahle published, “Digital Books wear out faster than Physical Books,” countering the notion put forward by publishers that ebooks don’t wear out. In fact, Brewster notes that ebooks require “constant maintenance—reprocessing, reformatting, re-invigorating or they will not be readable or read.