The University of Michigan Library said that they were “undaunted” by an Authors Guild lawsuit over its Orphan Works Project. The library release stressed: “contrary to some erroneous reports, the library is continuing its digitization efforts along with improving the orphan works identification process.”
Earlier this month, the Authors Guild, the Australian Society of Authors, the Union Des Écrivaines et des Écrivains Québécois (UNEQ) and eight authors sued HathiTrust to prevent libraries from sharing free copies of some books in a digital collection seven million books.
According to dean of libraries Paul Courant, the library had been communicating with the Authors Guild about the project before the lawsuit. Courant added: “We knew that the knowledge base and outreach capacity of authors and publishers would help us better achieve the project goal of identifying copyright holders … Litigation, especially between organizations that share common ground in service to creative and scholarly work, is surely counterproductive to the goals of all parties.”