Court Rules Americans With Disabilities Act Allows Libraries to Make Copies to Serve Persons With Disabilities

Court Rules Americans With Disabilities Act Allows Libraries to Make Copies to Serve Persons With Disabilities

Section 121 of the Copyright Act allows an “authorized entity” to reproduce or distribute copies of certain protected works in specialized formats so those with vision or other impairments can use them. The Act defines an “authorized entity” as a nonprofit organization or governmental agency “that has a primary mission to provide specialized services relating to training, education, or adaptive reading or information access needs of blind or other persons with disabilities.”

There has been a longstanding question whether college and university libraries qualify as an “authorized entity” pursuant to the definition in Section 121. The Court resolved this question, answering affirmatively. “The ADA requires that libraries of educational institutions have a primary mission to reproduce and distribute their collections to print-disabled individuals, making each library a potential “authorized entity” under [Section 121],” wrote Judge Baer. “The provision of access to previously published non-dramatic literary works within the HDL fits squarely within [Section 121], although Defendants may certainly rely on fair use, as explained above, to justify copies made outside of these categories or in the event that they are not authorized entities.”