Judge in Maryland strikes down library e-book law
By HILLEL ITALIE
AP National Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — In a legal case closely watched by libraries and the publishing industry, a federal judge in Maryland struck down a state law requiring publishers to make e-books available on “reasonable terms” to libraries if they were also being offered to the general public. The Association of American Publishers, the industry’s trade organization, had contended that the bill violated the United States Copyright Act by allowing states to regulate publishing transactions. Judge Deborah L. Boardman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland issued her decision Monday, four months after she had enjoined the Maryland law.
