Press conference statement: Lila Bailey, Internet Archive
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2025 3:51 am
Lila Bailey is the senior policy counsel at Internet Archive. Lila spoke at the press conference hosted by Internet Archive ahead of oral argument in Hachette v. Internet Archive.
Statement
I’m Lila Bailey, Senior Policy Counsel for the Internet Archive. Today, the court will hear arguments about whether Copyright Law affirms the rights of libraries to lend the books they own to one reader at a time.
The benefits of libraries to our modern world cannot be phone number library overstated. Libraries are an essential component of our democratic and free society. But the rise of social media, and now AI, have resulted in an immediate threat to the public’s pursuit of the truth.
In a vigorous pursuit of truth, the library is our greatest ally.
The Internet Archive’s digital lending program serves this essential purpose. The very purpose of the copyright system: to encourage the intellectual enrichment of the public.
Controlled digital lending represents the latest in a long history of innovations developed by libraries to serve the public’s need for information. In the past, publishers stood against microfilm and photocopiers, crying harm. They said they would be harmed by interlibrary loan. They lobbied for decades against libraries being allowed to provide access for the blind and print disabled. They were wrong. It took years, but eventually the law affirmed each of these things, and the public benefitted.
Statement
I’m Lila Bailey, Senior Policy Counsel for the Internet Archive. Today, the court will hear arguments about whether Copyright Law affirms the rights of libraries to lend the books they own to one reader at a time.
The benefits of libraries to our modern world cannot be phone number library overstated. Libraries are an essential component of our democratic and free society. But the rise of social media, and now AI, have resulted in an immediate threat to the public’s pursuit of the truth.
In a vigorous pursuit of truth, the library is our greatest ally.
The Internet Archive’s digital lending program serves this essential purpose. The very purpose of the copyright system: to encourage the intellectual enrichment of the public.
Controlled digital lending represents the latest in a long history of innovations developed by libraries to serve the public’s need for information. In the past, publishers stood against microfilm and photocopiers, crying harm. They said they would be harmed by interlibrary loan. They lobbied for decades against libraries being allowed to provide access for the blind and print disabled. They were wrong. It took years, but eventually the law affirmed each of these things, and the public benefitted.