Hachette v. Internet Archive

Hachette Book Group, Inc. v. Internet Archive, No. 20-cv-4160 (JGK), 664 F.Supp.3d 370 (S.D.N.Y. 2023), WL 2623787 (S.D.N.Y. 2023), was a case in which the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York determined that the Internet Archive, a registered library, committed copyright infringement by scanning and lending complete copies of certain books through controlled digital lending mechanisms. Stemming from the creation of the National Emergency Library (NEL) during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, publishing companies Hachette Book Group, Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, and Wiley alleged that the Internet Archive's Open Library and National Emergency Library facilitated copyright infringement of their books.

The case primarily concerns the fair use of controlled digital lending (CDL) of complete copies of certain books owned by the publishing companies that were party to the case. The case does not concern the display of short passages, limited page views, search results, books out of copyright, out of print, or books without an ebook version currently for sale.

On March 25, 2023, the court ruled on the case. In August 2023, the parties reached a negotiated judgment, including a permanent injunction barring the Internet Archive from lending complete copies through CDL of some of the plaintiffs' books. The decision was upheld by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in September 2024, and the Internet Archive announced in December 2024 it would not challenge further.