HATHITRUST DIGITAL LIBRARY DEEMED 'FAIR USE' OF COPYRIGHTED BOOKS

A U.S. appeals court says a digital library of more than 10 million scanned and searchable texts amounts to "fair use," ruling against a group of authors who claimed copyright infringement. The HathiTrust Digital Library is a database of books that universities have allowed Google to scan without authors' consent. Although the books can't be read by the general public without permission, they can be searched for keywords — a function used, for example, by researchers looking at word patterns and frequencies.

The court upheld the 2012 ruling of Judge Harold Baer, who wrote that HathiTrust is an "invaluable contribution to the progress of science and cultivation of the arts." NPR's Lynn Neary reported Tuesday that the case "hinged on copyright law and provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act," because the library allows people who have disabilities that prevent them from reading printed books to access the digital works in alternative forms.

To access the HathiTrust Digital Library, see: www.hathitrust.org

To read the complete article, see: Book News: Appeals Court Rules Digital Library Doesn't Violate Copyright Law (www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/06/11/320927974/book-news-appeals-court-rules-digital-library-doesn-t-violate-copyright-law)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web