Internet Archive's digital book lending violates copyrights, US judge rules

FILE PHOTO: A gavel and a block is pictured on the judge's bench in this illustration picture taken in the Sussex County Court of Chancery in Georgetown, Delaware, U.S., June 9, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/

(Reuters) -A U.S. judge has ruled that an online library operated by the nonprofit organization Internet Archive infringed the copyrights of four major U.S. publishers by lending out digitally scanned copies of their books.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge John Koeltl in Manhattan on Friday came in a closely watched lawsuit that tested the ability of Internet Archive to lend out the works of writers and publishers protected by U.S. copyright laws.