[MinorTom]

You're absolutely right, which is why the IA buys physical books, scans them, and makes them available online under so-called "Controlled Digital Lending". Renting out one digital copy at a time is covered by fair use, they argue, although it hasn't been tested in court.*

* That is expected as a part of the publishers lawsuit against the "National Emergency Library"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_digital_lending

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Archive#National_Emer...

[sangnoir]

Thank you for the links - that is the disagreement with authors & publishers I was alluding to in my root comment at the start of the thread.

Lending multiple electronic copies of 1 physical book simultaneously was questionable behavior by the IA - emergency or not. I suspect a court would treat that a electronic reproduction of the work, and not fair use, IANAL. If you want to lend out 20 copies, buy 20 copies first (or procure 20 donations)