This might kill the Internet Archive as a legal entity in the US if the outcome is particularly unfavorable, but LibGen, Scihub, Z-Library, Anna's Archive etc aren't going away.
> This is straight-up piracy, and there's a 0% chance of it being legally justified.
Agree to disagree. Copyright has worn out its welcome when it is locking up culture for life + 70 years at a time [1] [2]. The Internet Archive could archive and maintain these works in cold storage (both physical and digital), only to make them public again 100-200 years from now, but that would not be keeping with "Universal Access to All Knowledge." Disk and bandwidth is cheap, and the planet is big.
> This is straight-up piracy, and there's a 0% chance of it being legally justified.
Agree to disagree. Copyright has worn out its welcome when it is locking up culture for life + 70 years at a time [1] [2]. The Internet Archive could archive and maintain these works in cold storage (both physical and digital), only to make them public again 100-200 years from now, but that would not be keeping with "Universal Access to All Knowledge." Disk and bandwidth is cheap, and the planet is big.
[1] https://www.copyright.gov/history/copyright-exhibit/lifecycl...
[2] https://www.princeton.edu/news/2003/02/21/lessig-were-copyri...
(no affiliation, but a fan and a supporter, and believe in defending public goods)