Internet Archive’s Decision Not to Appeal Second Circuit’s Fair Use Ruling Could Lead to More Litigation As Issue Remains Unsettled

The Second Circuit’s decision may have significant downstream implications for other digital lending services, making it more difficult to operate absent licensing agreements with copyright holders of the various works they seek to distribute. With Internet Archive deciding against petitioning the Supreme Court, we may well see similar litigation pop up in other jurisdictions outside the Second Circuit until the issue is more widely settled.

9 minute read March 01, 2025 at 12:07 AM
By
Catherine Nyarady and Crystal Parker
Internet Archive’s Decision Not to Appeal Second Circuit’s Fair Use Ruling Could Lead to More Litigation As Issue Remains Unsettled

On Sept. 4, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a district court decision that a defendant nonprofit’s copying of physical books and distributing them for free online did not constitute “fair use.”

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