https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/12/internet-archive-ends-free-e-book-program-following-publisher-suit/

The National Emergency Library is one of those well-intentioned ideas that was destined to get pushback. The brainchild of Internet Archive, the platform made north of 1.3 million books available for checkout, free of charge. The system was designed to supplement the book needs of educators, as libraries across the country remained closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Book publishers, on the other hand, weren’t having it. A consortium of four publishers filed suit against Internet Archive earlier this month. “Despite the ‘Open Library’ moniker, IA’s actions grossly exceed legitimate library services, do violence to the Copyright Act, and constitute willful digital piracy on an industrial scale,” Hachette, HarperCollins, Wiley and Penguin Random House wrote in the New York federal court suit.