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The copyright lawsuit filed in 2023 by Sony Music, Universal Music Group (UMG), and several other record labels against the Internet Archive has now reached its conclusion. Both parties recently submitted documents to the court confirming that a settlement had been reached, with the case expected to be formally withdrawn within 45 days. While the precise terms remain confidential, the Internet Archive stated in its official blog that both sides had agreed to resolve all disputes under a non-disclosure agreement and would refrain from offering further public comment.
At the heart of the lawsuit was the Internet Archive’s “Great 78 Project,” an initiative dedicated to digitally preserving vintage songs and recordings captured on 78 rpm records. The project included performances and recordings by American legends such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, and Louis Armstrong, all made accessible for online listening.
The original complaint targeted 2,749 recordings, later expanded to 4,142, including classics such as White Christmas, Sing, Sing, Sing, and The Christmas Song.
The record labels argued that these works faced no real risk of being “lost, forgotten, or destroyed,” since they remain widely available through licensed streaming platforms and commercial distribution. Thus, the Internet Archive’s act of sharing them publicly constituted unauthorized infringement. Had the court ruled in favor of the labels, the Internet Archive could have faced statutory damages of up to $150,000 per track, potentially amounting to several hundred million dollars.
This was not the Internet Archive’s first brush with copyright litigation. Previously, its National Emergency Library, launched during the pandemic to provide free access to 1.4 million e-books, drew a joint lawsuit from major publishers. The court ultimately sided with the publishers, ruling that the service did not qualify as fair use and ordering its closure.
By settling this time, the Internet Archive has chosen to avoid further legal risk in the music copyright dispute. Yet the move raises broader concerns about how future academic, historical, and musical preservation initiatives can balance the public interest with the rights of creators and copyright holders.
The Great 78 Project was conceived to safeguard early recording heritage from deterioration and cultural loss. However, in today’s highly commercialized music industry, the challenge lies in ensuring fair compensation for artists and rights holders while not impeding cultural preservation and educational use.
Though the settlement ends this legal battle, it underscores a vital lesson: digital preservation projects must navigate licensing, copyright, and public access with far greater care, striving to strike an equilibrium between protecting cultural heritage and respecting intellectual property.
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