Hachette and controlled digital lending: the end of the line, or merely the story thus far?

Abstract

Abstract On 24 March 2023, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York issued its decision in Hachette Book Group, Inc. v Internet Archive. The Court held that the Internet Archive’s practice of scanning print copyrighted titles and lending digital copies to patrons online was not ‘fair use’ under section 107 of the US Copyright Act 1976. The present analysis addresses whether the case forecloses other kinds of libraries from engaging in controlled digital lending. The academic law library is used to illustrate that Hachette is not the end of the line.