“Emergency” Library “Outside Boundaries of Copyright”

“Your ‘library’ is operating outside the boundaries of the copyright law that Congress has enacted and alone has jurisdiction to amend,” Sen. Tillis tells National Emergency Library.

In an April 8 letter to Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, questioned the legal basis for the Archive’s National Emergency Library initiative, reports Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer.

In his letter, Tillis writes that he’s “not aware of any measure under copyright law that permits a user of copyrighted works to unilaterally create an emergency copyright act.

“Indeed, I am deeply concerned,” Tillis adds, “that your ‘Library’ is operating outside the boundaries of the copyright law that Congress has enacted and alone has jurisdiction to amend.”

“Tillis concluded by appearing to invite Kahle to engage with the Senate Subcommittee on Intellectual Property as it undertakes a yearlong review and potential reform of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.,” Albanese tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally.

Every Friday, CCC’s “Beyond the Book” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.