From Rueters (emphasis added):
Maryland ebook licensing law is unconstitutional, U.S. court rules
Quote:
A federal court in Baltimore ruled Monday that a Maryland law requiring book publishers to offer public libraries reasonable licenses to ebooks and digital audiobooks is unconstitutional.
In a victory for the Association of American Publishers, U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman said that the law violates publishers' protections under the federal Copyright Act.
AAP, the book publishing industry's national trade group, won an order pausing the law in February. Boardman said at the time that the first-of-its-kind statute likely interfered with the publishers' right to decide how to distribute their works.
Legislatures in states including Massachusetts, Illinois, Tennessee, Missouri and Rhode Island have been considering laws similar to Maryland's. AAP President Maria Pallante said in a Monday statement that the decision and New York Governor Kathy Hochul's veto of a similar bill last year because of constitutional concerns "sends a two-fold message to other legislatures being similarly lobbied: there is nothing judicious about undermining authors or the viability of an independent publishing industry.”
The Maryland attorney general's office declined to comment.
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