The Internet Archive is doubling down on its position that its digital lending library service operates under the bounds of fair use. Major publishers assert that digitizing books without appropriate licensing amounts to infringement but IA counters that the practice is in the public interest. It also fits copyright’s ultimate purpose; to promote the broad public availability of literature and other arts.
Don’t forget that legally we count corporations as people, and corporations can live on indefinitely.
Originally copyright provided a monopoly for 14 years, plus one optional 14 year extension.