Internet Archive, a non-profit library dedicated to archived websites, music, books, apps, and all kinds of information on the internet, has been subjected to multiple lawsuits since its foundation in 1996. And one aimed at its library has reportedly had a major effect, according to what its founder told Ars Technica.
Internet Archive might be most well known for its website archiver, The Wayback Machine, but, in 2020, its Open Library was sued by four major book publishers. Effectively, the Open Library is a digital library, where the Internet Archive would 'loan' digital versions of physical books it owns, to emulate a library. These books would be lent at a 1-1 rate with what it owned. At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, it created the National Emergency Library in response to libraries shutting down, which removed its prior lending restrictions.
