A federal judge this week has ordered that the parties in a copyright infringement case filed by four major publishers against the Internet Archive be ready for trial by November of next year.

In an August 31 scheduling order, Judge John G. Koeltl mostly accepted the discovery schedule proposed by the parties late last week, and set a few key dates in the case schedule:

  • Dispositive motions are to be completed by October 8, 2021.
  • Pretrial Order/Motions in Limine must be submitted by October 29, 2021.
  • The parties, barring a motion that would moot the schedule, are to be ready for trial on 48 hours notice on or after November 12, 2021.

Further, Koeltl gave the parties until December 1 to advise the court as to whether they will consent to settlement talks with a magistrate judge.

The order comes after the parties proposed (and the court agreed to) a discovery schedule last week that would stretch until September 20, 2021.

The copyright infringement lawsuit against the Internet Archive's scanning and lending program was first filed on June 1 in the Southern District of New York by Hachette, HarperCollins, John Wiley & Sons, and Penguin Random House, and is being coordinated by the Association of American Publishers.