A federal judge in Ohio has issued a default judgment and permanent injunction against shadow library Anna’s Archive, ordering it to delete all scraped data from OCLC’s proprietary WorldCat database and cease any further use or distribution. The ruling, handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Michael Watson on January 15, 2026, stems from a lawsuit filed by OCLC, which accused Anna’s Archive of illegally hacking and copying 2.2TB of WorldCat data over two years ago.
The injunction permanently bars Anna’s Archive and any parties “in active concert or participation” with it from scraping, harvesting, using, storing, or distributing WorldCat data. The site must also delete all copies, including torrents, in its possession or easily accessible to it. OCLC initially sought millions in damages but dropped the claim, focusing instead on halting the infringement.
The judgment was granted on claims of trespass to chattels and breach of contract, with the court ruling that Anna’s Archive entered a “browsewrap” agreement by repeatedly accessing WorldCat.org, giving it constructive notice of OCLC’s terms. Claims for unjust enrichment and tortious interference were denied.
Anna’s Archive, which describes itself as the world’s largest shadow library and deliberately violates copyright laws in most countries, did not respond to the lawsuit, leading to the default ruling. Experts doubt compliance, given the site’s decentralized nature and history of mirroring content widely.
OCLC, a nonprofit that maintains WorldCat, the world’s largest library catalog, alleged the scraping damaged its operations. The injunction could pressure third-party intermediaries like hosting providers or domain registrars to act against Anna’s Archive.
