Thread by @internetarchive

In this week's @BeyondTheBook, @PublishersWkly's top #Copyright reporter @AndrewRichard Albanese in an honest exchange on the publishers lawsuit against the @InternetArchive:

beyondthebookcast.com/internet-archi…

Some key points by Andrew Albanese:

@BeyondTheBook @PublishersWkly @AndrewRichard 2/ @InternetArchive & #libraries...would say they'd pay for the scan but that option isn't available...The only option...for most trade books is a temp expensive ebook license. I actually think that’s a pretty critical Q that could arise in this lawsuit: the library ebook market.

@BeyondTheBook @PublishersWkly @AndrewRichard 3/ @InternetArchive makes what to me is a huge point & is going to be a huge point in the suit. I quote: “The public derives tremendous benefit from the program, while rights holders will gain nothing if the public is deprived of this resource."
...I think it sounds about right.

@BeyondTheBook @PublishersWkly @AndrewRichard 4/ "I have to say, asking a court to make a ruling here or to punt it to Congress, a congress that seems ill prepared to actually address these questions...That why…on a personal level, I think this is really unfortunate lawsuit, possibly an ill-advised lawsuit, to be frank.”

@BeyondTheBook @PublishersWkly @AndrewRichard 5/ "I view this litigation and all litigation in much more practical terms here. By that I mean, what’s the upside here?

If this was to be a blow out, open-and-shut case for the publishers, what do the publishers and authors get?

I’d say nothing."

@BeyondTheBook @PublishersWkly @AndrewRichard 6/ @PublishersWkly's Albanese:

"This case wins the publishers absolutely nothing beyond the pursuit of a principle. And that principle is that every use must be paid for."

@BeyondTheBook @PublishersWkly @AndrewRichard 7/ "And that principle is under increasing pressure in every medium in the digital age for information, for all quarters—the least of which, I would submit, is the threat from crappy PDFs of books from a web site that few people have ever even heard of."

@BeyondTheBook @PublishersWkly @AndrewRichard 8/ "I think publishers and authors groups in recent years have conflated the pressure on authors in the digital age—which is very real and needs to be addressed—I think they have conflated those issues with copyright."

@BeyondTheBook @PublishersWkly @AndrewRichard 9/ @PublishersWkly reporter Andrew Albanese: "But honestly, a win in court on this issue will not mean more sales for books for publishers. Nor will it protect any authors or publisher from the vagaries of the internet."

@BeyondTheBook @PublishersWkly @AndrewRichard 10/ @PublishersWkly's Andrew Albanese:
"Here we are in the streaming age, 13 years after the ebook market took off, and we’re having a copyright battle, a court battle over crappy PDFs of mostly out-of-print books? I just don’t think it’s a good look for the industry.”

@BeyondTheBook @PublishersWkly @AndrewRichard 11/ "On the other hand, let’s look at all the ways this could go sideways for the publishers.

For one: they could lose.

It could happen."

@BeyondTheBook @PublishersWkly @AndrewRichard 12/ "If this case gets down in the copyright fair use weeds, it could be a long, costly nightmare, not unlike the @GeorgiaStateU e-reserves case has turned out to be."

@BeyondTheBook @PublishersWkly @AndrewRichard @GeorgiaStateU 13/ "What would a loss in this case mean? I’ll remind you @Google is sitting on 40M scans & then there is @hathitrust. If the court ultimately comes back & sanctions #ControlledDigitalLending, what can of worms does that open for the book business? Is the gamble really worth it?"

@BeyondTheBook @PublishersWkly @AndrewRichard @GeorgiaStateU @Google @hathitrust 14/ "Why are we not selling PDFs to libraries here? Why are we going to court to defend the practice of not selling PDFs to libraries? Is there really no market solution here? That’s what I can’t help thinking. It just doesn’t make sense to me."

@BeyondTheBook @PublishersWkly @AndrewRichard @GeorgiaStateU @Google @hathitrust 15/ @PublishersWkly #Copyright reporter Andrew Albanese: "PDFs—I don’t think—compete with print or ebooks." FIN.

#ControlledDigitalLending #Copyright #library