Authors Guild Files Motion for Fair Use Ruling in HathiTrust Lawsuit

The Authors Guild and other plaintiffs in the Authors Guild v. HathiTrust lawsuit have filed a motion urging the judge to rule against the fair use defense that could keep the collection of seven million scanned books alive.

Last year the University of Michigan, the University of California, the University of Wisconsin, Indiana University, and Cornell University created the HathiTrust digital library, a vast collection of scanned texts for students. The Australian Society of Authors, the Union Des Écrivaines et des Écrivains Québécois (UNEQ), eight authors and the Authors Guild sued to block the resource.

The motion encourages federal judge Harold Baer to make the fair use ruling before the lawsuit proceeds. Here’s an excerpt: “Given Defendants’ admitted conduct, there is no reason for the parties to engage in extensive discovery regarding the defenses they assert. Plaintiffs respectfully urge the Court to hold that Defendants’ mass book digitization and orphan works projects are not protected by any defense recognized by copyright law.”

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