Internet Archive and Music Labels Edge Toward Settlement in $693M Copyright Dispute

• An ongoing Internet Archive copyright lawsuit has a proposed settlement of $693 million in statutory damages.
• The legal dispute involves several major music labels, including Sony and UMG. 
• However, a joint statement revealed the entities may reach an understanding and solve the case outside of court.

The ongoing copyright lawsuit between the nonprofit Internet Archive (IA) and several major music labels, including Sony and UMG, may be reaching a conclusion. Both sides have reported making "significant progress" in settlement discussions regarding the dispute.

The labels wanted to update their claim to $693 million in statutory damages last month, but they may not be applied after all. The beef stems from IA’s "Great 78 Project," an initiative to digitally preserve 78rpm gramophone records.  

The Internet Archive, renowned for its Wayback Machine, launched the Great 78 Project to preserve the unique audio and cultural significance of 78rpm records, many of which are at risk of physical deterioration. 

Despite receiving praise from historians and music enthusiasts, the project drew ire from record labels, which filed a $400M copyright infringement suit in 2023. The lawsuit accuses IA of infringing upon thousands of works included in the project.  

The labels allege that IA unlawfully reproduced and distributed protected recordings, demanding statutory damages of up to $150,000 for each of the 4,624 recorded works cited in their amended complaint. If confirmed, this would escalate potential damages to a staggering $693M.  

After denying IA’s motion to dismiss, a U.S. federal court allowed the case to proceed, citing disputes over the statute of limitations. Recently, however, both parties requested a 30-day pause in proceedings to finalize a potential settlement.  

A joint statement by IA and the record labels expressed optimism about resolving the case outside of court. The filed stipulation resulted in a temporary stay of the case. Should the settlement talks succeed, the lawsuit will be dismissed; if not, litigation will resume as scheduled. 

In October 2024, Internet Archive’s primary sites, Archive.org and OpenLibrary.org, were offline following a severe data breach and a series of Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks. The breach allegedly exposed the credentials and email addresses of more than 31 million users.

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