On 11 August, the IPA, along with other international rightsholder organisations, filed what is known as an ‘Amicus Brief’ in New York in support of four US publishers (Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House and Wiley) in the case Hachette et al vs Internet Archive. This is a copyright infringement lawsuit against the Internet Archive that began in June 2020.

This case is not just a local US matter, it is of global significance. Many of the books that the Internet Archive scans and distributes without permission were written and published outside the USA — in Europe and elsewhere. And more importantly, this is a test case which will determine how far entities like the Internet Archive can go in digitizing and distributing published content without permission from, or remuneration to publishers and creators. It was therefore appropriate and essential that the IPA supported the publishers in this case.

IPA Secretary General, José Borghino, said: ‘The works available on the Internet Archive come from publishers around the world and are made available internationally. They have been digitized and made available anywhere, without authorization by the affected international publishers. Such conduct shows no respect for the creators behind these works nor for international copyright treaties, and we expect the Court to recognize this.’

IPA gathered together the following co-signatories to the Amicus Brief: Federation of European Publishers (FEP), International Association of STM Publishers (STM), International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), International Video Federation (IVF), International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF), IFPI (representing the recording industry worldwide). We thank them very much for their support.

For more background on the case, see this Press Release from the Association of American Publishers:

https://publishers.org/news/%EF%BF%BCpublishers-seek-summary-judgment-against-internet-archive-for-blatant-scanning-and-distribution-of-literary-works-on-industrial-scale/

To read the full Amicus Brief, follow this link:

https://www.publishersweekly.com/binary-data/ARTICLE_ATTACHMENT/file/000/005/5998-1.pdf