Adi Robertson

Many people know the Internet Archive through the Wayback Machine, one of the most important web history repositories in existence. But its broader archival initiatives have left it facing legal challenges from the publishing and music industries. On today’s Vergecast I broke down the status of the suits and what they could mean for the future of digital preservation... and while we’re at it, what’s copyright really meant for, anyway?

Per an email sent to Magic Leap developers, the 2018 mixed reality headset will be officially retired December 31st, 2024, as the company focuses on updates to the Magic Leap 2 and future products. On top of no longer selling the ML1, that includes the following:

The team behind the popular copyright framework has taken a stab at answering that question, and the short answer is “it’s complicated and depends on how courts interpret the scope of copyright protections and fair use.” Perhaps most importantly, they emphasize that copyright simply isn’t the only concern involved:

If you were playing late yesterday, you may have seen your newer save files become temporarily unavailable, thanks to Larian Studios rolling back a hotfix that was crashing the game for some players. Well, it’s just re-updated — with a promise from Larian to do fuller QA testing next time — and my saves will load again. I’m guessing yours will too.

The deal follows an early defeat for the Archive in a copyright lawsuit with publishers this spring, and a judge will need to settle a dispute over its exact scope. But it’s a potential short-term resolution while the Internet Archive pursues an appeal. As the Archive explains: