> I don't understand the backlash in the comments here, it seems to all come from a perspective of people being so downtrodden they just accept the current status quo crafted by MAFIAA lawyers, rather than looking at it holistically from first-principles.
People do not understand that the IA want to go to court as part of their strategy, or else they think they understand what constitutes an effective legal strategy for the IA better than the IA do.
If this was a strategy from the IA, it has all but failed, hasn't it? And given that the vast majority predicted it would fail, I wouldn't even call this hindsight being 20/20.
The IA will appeal the outcome of this case. An appeal by one side or the other was probably inevitable.
I don't know as much about the law as the, ahem, "vast majority," but I wonder if the IA will, in the event of a loss, lose anything more than the ability to do something they are found to have done in violation of the law, and some legal fees. I read the decision and saw some reasons for encouragement, but hey... not a lawyer.
Libraries are given a good faith exception from statutory damages. 17 USC § 504(c)(2). I don't think any court has yet had the opportunity to interpret and apply the exception. Nonetheless, there's little reason to believe that the IA's interpretation of Fair Use wasn't in good faith. The court's recent decision deferred the question for later, but we'll find out soon enough. And then we're only just getting started--this case was always destined to be decided on appeal as it poses novel and important legal questions.
People do not understand that the IA want to go to court as part of their strategy, or else they think they understand what constitutes an effective legal strategy for the IA better than the IA do.