Ruling Revolutionizes Digital Book Access for Blind and Print-Disabled

The National Federation for the Blind is applauding the decision of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. “The ruling in Authors Guild, Inc., et al., v. HathiTrust, et al. (Case number: No. 11-cv-6351-HB) held that providing access for students with print disabilities constitutes a ‘transformative use’ under the fair use provision of the Copyright Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act and that Section 121 of the Copyright Act (the ‘Chafee Amendment’) permits university libraries to digitize their collections for distribution and use by the blind.  As a result, the University of Michigan will now be permitted to make its entire 10 million volume digital collection available to all blind Americans, revolutionizing access to digital books by the blind and print disabled.” The ruling was made on October 10th, 2012. Read more at this National Federation for the Blind Web page (opens in a new window).

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