“We conclude, contrary to the district court, that IA’s use of the Works is not commercial in nature.”
Four publishers sued over 127 books, and the Second Circuit affirmed that the Internet Archive’s lending is not fair use. It disagreed with the district court and found the Archive’s use was not commercial. It ruled against the nonprofit anyway. The Archive lent one digital copy per physical copy it owned, the same ratio a library lends on paper. In the court’s view, owning a book does not cover lending a scan of it.