The court ruled that the copyright was violated due to the large-scale lending of e-books during the new coronavirus epidemic.Internet Archive, and is now facing competition from record companies such as Sony Music and Universal Music.bring the action, believing that the Internet Archive deliberately uploaded and disseminated audio content that infringed copyright.
The audio content mainly covers sounds recorded on vinyl records before 1972. The reason for the lawsuit filed by the record industry is that the Internet Archive, the American film copying service provider George Blood LP, and the non-profit music library and archive ARChive of Contemporary Music initiated"Great 78 Project", hoping to preserve nostalgic songs and music content previously recorded on 78 revolutions per minute (78 rpm) vinyl records in digital form.
Record companies including Sony Music and Universal Music believe that the Internet Archive's project is a clear violation of copyright. Songs included in the project, such as "White Christmas," "Sing, Sing, Sing," and "The Christmas Song," as well as performances or performances by American singers Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong and others, have been illegally reproduced. They also believe that these music contents have already been provided for use by major streaming music services or related music download platforms, so there is no risk of content loss.
However, the Internet Archive emphasizes that the purpose of preserving its content is not only to ensure that these nostalgic music can continue to be listened to and studied, but also to make these nostalgic music easily accessible to everyone and prevent these music contents from disappearing due to commercial issues.
Bloomberg NewsReportIt is said that the record industry will currently demand statutory damages of up to US$15 (approximately NT$450 million) for each copy of copyrighted music, so the Internet Archive may face claims of up to US$3.72 million (approximately NT$118.7 billion).
Prior to this, the Internet Archive faced a lawsuit brought by publishers including Hachette Book Group, alleging that the Internet Archive had copied and distributed 140 million e-books online during the pandemic, severely damaging the publishers' interests. The court ruled against the case. The Internet Archive subsequently stated that it would appeal the ruling, arguing that the ruling affects the way knowledge is acquired in the digital age and is detrimental to both readers and authors. The Archive also emphasized that it would continue to provide digital services such as e-book lending and citation links.
