alt Hacker NewsI’m not a lawyer, but I read the decision, and how is this section not a ruling on fair use?
“To summarize the analysis that now follows, the use of the books at issue to train Claude and its precursors was exceedingly transformative and was a fair use under Section 107 of the Copyright Act. And, the digitization of the books purchased in print form by Anthropic was also a fair use but not for the same reason as applies to the training copies. Instead, it was a fair use because all Anthropic did was replace the print copies it had purchased for its central library with more convenient space-saving and searchable digital copies for its central library — without adding new copies, creating new works, or redistributing existing copies. However, Anthropic had no entitlement to use pirated copies for its central library. Creating a permanent, general-purpose library was not itself a fair use excusing Anthropic’s piracy.”
Or in the final judgement, “This order grants summary judgment for Anthropic that the training use was a fair use. And, it grants that the print-to-digital format change was a fair use for a different reason.”
There's two parts here.
The first:
> it was a fair use because all Anthropic did was replace the print copies it had purchased for its central library
It is only fair use where Anthropic had already purchased a license to the work. Which has zero to do with scraping - a purchase was made, an exchange of value, and that comes with rights.
The second, which involves a section of the judgement a little before your quote:
> And, as for any copies made from central library copies but not used for training, this order does not grant summary judgment for Anthropic.
This is where the court refused to make any ruling. There was no exchange of value here, such as would happen with scraping. The court made no ruling.