Authors Guild v. HathiTrust (2011-2013)

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Background

• 2008, several US college and university research libraries formed the HathiTrust
  • HathiTrust digitizes and stores the printed collections of its partner libraries to preserve them
  • has partners like Google and Microsoft
  • has digitized over 17 million books
  • provides access to content when a copyright holder allows it

Issue

• September 2011, Authors Guild sued HathiTrust
  • Authors Guild helps writers learn about copyright and how to protect it
• alleged HathiTrust was violating copyrights by creating a digital archive of copyrighted materials
• argued that HathiTrust copied and provided access to materials without owner’s consent
• HathiTrust argued that digitization of the materials was allowed under several exceptions
  • argued that activities were fair use
  • fell under preservation provision

Holding

• 2012 federal district court agreed with HathiTrust they did not violate copyright law
• Authors Guild appealed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals
  • ruled in favor of HathiTrust
  • held the doctrine of fair use allowed HathiTrust to create full-text searchable database of copyrighted works