Publishing giant
has sued the online library
, accusing the Oregon nonprofit company of posting to the Web the entire contents of books for which it holds exclusive rights.
Penguin seeks an injunction, as well as damages, for American Buddha's posting of such novels as "Oil!" by
and "It Can't Happen Here," by
. The publisher also accuses the nonprofit of misusing new translations of "The Golden Ass" by Apuleius and "On the Nature of the Universe" by Lucretius.
The suit, filed last Friday in Portland's U.S. District Court, alleges that Penguin discovered in December 2008 that American Buddha had posted a complete copy of
on the Internet. The New York-based publishing group notified the Oregon company's counsel of the alleged copyright infringement.
American Buddha responded by citing fair use and the library exceptions, but Penguin countered that those exceptions don't allow full reproduction of copyrighted materials online, according to the lawsuit, filed by the Portland law firm
.
The American Buddha Online Library's website says it "makes available selected artistic and literary works under a system of voluntary, free online lending, under the fair use exclusion from copyright liability accorded to libraries and archives" pursuant to federal law.
The site also states that it educates members about lawful use of copyrighted materials and "imposes contractual and technical limitations on access to the archive" and that users agree not to violate copyrights "by piratical behavior."
Penguin originally filed an infringement suit against American Buddha in 2009 in a New York federal court, which held that it lacked jurisdiction over American Buddha.
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