Dear Members,
Sorry for the influx of emails, but there is a lot going on right
now!
I am writing today about a troubling development, and we are asking
for your help. Internet Archive has sought donations of hard-copy
books from libraries and individuals for a number of years now.
While they recently made much of their project to
scan and make available books in their last 20 years of copyright,
they have been remarkably quiet about a project that could bring
enormous harm to the publishing industry and authors. They have
recently posted a massive quantity of scanned books (including
works still in copyright that are not in the last 20 years of their
protected term) on their Open Library website:
www.openlibrary.org. While they have been doing this
for some time, there appears to be a sudden influx of in-copyright
books made available, as well as the ability to download. Anyone
can log-in, presumably from anywhere in the world, search for and
click on a book to “check it out” for a period of two weeks.
So far, that mimics regular library lending in that only one person
can check out a book at a time. Once checked out, the full text of
the books can be easily downloaded; the site even provides download
buttons to make it easy. That means anyone in the world can check
out and download your book(s), as long as they do it one person at
a time. We did some spot checking and asked council members to
check for their books. Each author who checked found that one or
more of their in-copyright books were available in the Open Library
for download.
IA describes Open Library as follows:
"The Internet Archive’s Open Libraries project will bring four
million books online, through purchase or digitization, while
honoring the rights of creators and expanding their online reach.
Working with U.S. libraries and organizations serving people with
print disabilities, Open Libraries can build the online equivalent
of a great, modern public library, providing millions of free
digital books to billions of people.”
But, contrary to their statement that they are “honoring the rights
of creators,” they are not respecting those creators’ copyrights.
They do not limit Open Library to people with print disabilities
and there is nothing legal about providing full text copies of
copyrighted material for download on a public website without
permission.
So, we are asking you to check and see if scanned copies of your
books are available on Open Library without permission. If they
are, please let us know by filling out this form.
We also ask that you contact your publisher if you want your book
taken down from Open Library.You may also send a takedown notice
directly to Internet Archive. The address to email to request a
takedown is: info@archive.org
Here is a form notice that you may use:
Dear Internet Archive,
I am the author of the
book(s) noted below. It has come to my attention that, without
permission from either me or my publisher [insert name], you have
scanned and are making my book(s) available for “loan” and also for
download on your publicly available website, openlibrary.com;
anyone in the world can create a login, check the book out and then
download it in its entirety, which is a clear infringement of my
copyright. Please remove my book(s) from the Open Library website
and any other website owned or controlled by you.
My book(s) is/are
entitled: [list all books on the site without permission]
They are located at
the following URL’s on your site: [provide URL for each book]
My contact information
is: [insert address, telephone number, and email address].
I attest under penalty
of perjury, that I have a good faith belief that Internet Archive’s
Open Library’s use of the material in the manner complained of is
not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
further that the information in this notification is accurate, and
that I am the copyright owner.
Electronic
signature: [type name]
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