Anna's Archive Scraping: Court Defers Key Questions to State Supreme Court

Anna's Archive, a meta-search engine for shadow libraries, has been embroiled in a lawsuit with the non-profit organization OCLC over its decision to scrape and share 2.2 terabytes of data from WorldCat, a proprietary database. The site launched in 2022, just days after Z-Library was targeted in a U.S. criminal crackdown, with the aim of ensuring continued availability of "free" books and articles to the broader public.

In late 2023, Anna's Archive expanded its offerings by making information from WorldCat available online. The site's operators spent over a year scraping the data and published roughly 700 million unique records online for free. However, OCLC was not pleased and responded with a lawsuit at an Ohio federal court, accusing the site and its operators of hacking, unjust enrichment, and breach of contract.

The non-profit claims that it spent over $1 million responding to Anna's Archive's alleged hacking efforts. Despite this, OCLC couldn't prevent the data from being released through a torrent. "Defendants, through the Anna's Archive domains, have made, and continue to make, all 2.2 TB of WorldCat data available for public download through its torrents," OCLC wrote in its complaint filed at an Ohio federal court.

Over the past year, the operators of Anna's Archive haven't responded in court. The only named defendant flat-out denied all connections to the site, and OCLC received no response from any of the official Anna's Archive email addresses previously served. Meanwhile, the pirate library continued to offer the WorldCat data, which is a major problem for the organization.

With no prospect of a two-sided legal battle, OCLC moved for a default judgment. However, in an order released last week, Judge Watson finds the path to judgment far from clear. In a detailed "Opinion and Order," Judge Watson shared his uncertainty about applying established Ohio legal principles in a data scraping context.

"Defendants, through the Anna's Archive domains, have made, and continue to make, all 2.2 TB of WorldCat data available for public download through its torrents," OCLC wrote in its complaint filed at an Ohio federal court.

Over the past year, the operators of Anna's Archive haven't responded in court. The only named defendant flat-out denied all connections to the site, and OCLC received no response from any of the official Anna's Archive email addresses previously served. Meanwhile, the pirate library continued to offer the WorldCat data, which is a major problem for the organization.

With no prospect of a two-sided legal battle, OCLC moved for a default judgment. However, in an order released last week, Judge Watson finds the path to judgment far from clear. In a detailed "Opinion and Order," Judge Watson shared his uncertainty about applying established Ohio legal principles in a data scraping context.

A Complex Legal Landscape

The court questions whether OCLC's contract claim, which relies on the Terms and Conditions that prohibit scraping, are enforceable. These terms are "browserwrap" available without an "I agree" button, which means that defendants may not have been privy to it.

Additionally, Judge Watson is concerned about preemption by copyright law, as is true for other claims, including the claim for unjust enrichment. "As with OCLC's contract claim, whether federal copyright law preempts its unjust enrichment claim depends on the state-law interests that claim serves," Judge Watson writes.

He further questioned whether copying scraped data, especially publicly accessible data, can be considered legally "unjust". Finding no guidance in Ohio law, he asked several hypothetical questions in response. "Candidly, I find it hard to understand how defendants could honestly believe they had permission to scrape and distribute WorldCat data on such a massive scale," Judge Watson noted.

A Delayed Resolution

The court's hesitation also highlights that web scraping remains a legal gray area that requires careful consideration. In the meantime, Anna's Archive remains online, with all the scraped OCLC data intact.

Judge Watson resolves to certify the novel Ohio-law issues identified above to the Supreme Court of Ohio. This means that there will likely be a significant delay before this matter is resolved. The court's decision emphasizes the need for careful consideration and clarification on the legal implications of web scraping.

Consequences and Implications

The lawsuit between OCLC and Anna's Archive highlights the complexities and challenges of web scraping in the digital age. While some may view it as a legitimate means of making information accessible, others see it as a copyright infringement.

The outcome of this case will have significant implications for both parties involved. For OCLC, the goal is to protect its proprietary data and ensure that users respect its intellectual property rights. For Anna's Archive, the aim is to continue providing free access to information, even in the face of potential legal challenges.

In conclusion, the court's decision to defer key questions to the State Supreme Court highlights the need for careful consideration and clarification on the legal implications of web scraping. As this matter continues to unfold, one thing is certain – web scraping remains a complex and contentious issue that requires thoughtful analysis and resolution.