Internet Archive Ends Legal Battle With Record Labels Over Historic Recordings

The Internet Archive has reached a confidential settlement with Universal Music Group and other major labels, 'ending a closely watched copyright battle over the nonprofit's effort to digitize and stream historic recordings,' reports the San Francisco Chronicle. From the report: The case (PDF), UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Internet Archive, targeted the Archive's Great 78 Project, an initiative to digitize more than 400,000 fragile shellac records from the early 20th century. The collection includes music by artists such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, and has been made available online for free public access. Record labels including Universal, Sony Music Entertainment and Capitol Records had sought $621 million in damages, arguing the Archive's streaming of these recordings constituted copyright infringement.

The Internet Archive, based in San Francisco's Richmond District, describes itself as a digital library dedicated to providing 'universal access to all knowledge.' Its director of library services, Chris Freeland, acknowledged the settlement in a brief statement. 'The parties have reached a confidential resolution of all claims and will have no further public comment on this matter,' he wrote.

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