The Internet Archive has lost its first fight to scan and lend e-books like a library

[AgentPete]

Would like to know what @Peyton Stafford thinks about this, he is an expert in this area.

https://www.theverge.com/023/3/24/23655804/internet-archive-hatchette-publisher-ebook-library-lawsuit

I have mixed feelings. If it's just another example of books being shamelessly plundered, then I'm agin'it. Is it?

 

[Peyton Stafford]

Before I write more, the Verge link took me to a 404. Here is an article on the Authors Guild site:

https://authorsguild.org/news/ag-celebrates-resounding-win-in-internet-archive-infringement-lawsuit/

I would not claim expertise in this, though I edited and helped write a book chapter on the IA and the concept of controlled digital lending (CDL). When someone purchases a printed book, the purchaser gains the right to give away or resell that book without compensating the publisher. Think used bookstore or public library. Brewster Kahle, founder of the IA and previously of Alexa Internet, applied the same thinking to scans of books. If you can lend the printed book, then why not lend a scan of it? However, there are several differences. First, the scan will never wear out, thus depriving the publisher of replacement sales. These are huge for companies with classic titles used in literature classes. Second, since borrowing the scan does not require a trip to a library, and neither does returning it, the scan can be read by more people in any given period than a printed book. This is why publishers limit the number of circulations of an ebook through a public library, so they get compensated as if it were a print book that wore out and were replaced. In defense of the IA, it lends only the number of copies it has scanned, and the scanned printed books are in a secure location so they cannot be read, lent, or sold.

Is this shameless plundering? I don't know.

 

[AgentPete]

Thanks, @Peyton Stafford, that's a terrific summary... I would say you really are an expert

 

[Pamela Jo]

That was written so brilliantly Peyton that I could understand. I wonder how this involves academic papers now. Academic publishing is shamelessly expensive and then your paper pretty much is impossible for anyone else to read. My husband gets free copies when he's published but they cost hundreds of euro otherwise. Scans should be the cheaper alternative if it's just a publishing cost , but also can be very expensive. I'm sure it's related, but not sure how. Here's a Q for you. If someone whose written an academic paper and had it published then takes the information and writes a lay person's version - can they publish that layman's version elsewhere? I guess the Q is whether the information and subject matter is owned by the academic publisher or the author?

 

[Peyton Stafford]

@Pamela Jo,

The purchase price has nothing to do with printing. Most of these articles are distributed electronically, though operating the publishing platforms is not cheap. The price is whatever the market will bear. Even if they are printed on paper, the selling price is out of proportion to the cost of printing. For instance, the book I did for ALA Editions is a few hundred pages long, a paperback, and they are asking

As for publishing a lay edition of an academic paper, normally copyright ownership remains with the author, and authors often publish numerous papers based on the same research. For instance, an article for a peer reviewed journal, a blog post, a chapter for a book. They want SU$68 for it. My grandson buys 1,000+ page science fiction by Brandon Sanderson for US$7.95, or so he tells me. So, the publisher is not worried about putting ink onto paper.

Unless your husband has signed a contract giving ownership of his expertise to the publisher, he is within his rights to use the same ideas and references however he wants.

Now that you have my interest, I'd love to know more about him and his writing.