Internet Archive Grilled by 2nd Cir. Over E-Book Library (1)

A Second Circuit panel expressed skepticism over the Internet Archive’s bid to escape a potentially costly rejection of its copyright fair use defense concerning its e-book lending practices.

Four major publishers sought to cement that “controlled digital lending” of copies of physical books to one person at a time—meant to mimic the practice of physical libraries—didn’t constitute fair use, during oral argument Friday at the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

An attorney for the Internet Archive — the non-profit operator of The Wayback Machine and a repository for multimedia conten — argued that CDL was noncommercial and ...