Digital Rights, Amicus Brief filed by AHEAD

The Association on Higher Education And Disability (AHEAD), joined by:

• Marilyn J. Bartlett, Ph.D, J.D.,
• The Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST),
• The Center for Law and Education (CLE),
• Melissa Chafee,
• The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA),
• Disability Rights Advocates (DRA),
• Everyone Reading, Inc.,
• Everyone Reading, Illinois,
• Eye to Eye, Inc.,
• The International Dyslexia Association (IDA) and
• The Society for Disability Studies (SDS)

filed an Amicus Brief supporting the Intervenor Defendants-Appellees National Federation of the Blind, et al.  in the appeal of  the Authors Guild, Inc. v. HathiTrust currently before the Second Circuit. 

The comprehensive digitization like that being done by the HathiTrust Digital Library (HDL) would provide desperately needed access to printed materials in the collections of college and university libraries, collections that remain for the most part inaccessible to students and scholars with print disabilities. Thus, amici urge the Court to affirm the district court’s ruling (the lower court court’s opinion can be found athttp://www.hathitrust.org/authors_guild_lawsuit_information).

The brief puts forward two principle arguments:

1.  that students with Disabilities are entitled to equal access to all aspects of education, including library collection; and
2. that copyright law and expanding federal disability rights protections complement each other in the form of the Chafee Amendment and the Fair Use Doctrine. 

Please read our Brief by visiting www.ahead.org and selecting the first link on the homepage under “News and Notes,”Authors Guild v HathiTrust –  Amicus Brief.