The archive, called "The Complete National Geographic on CD-ROM and DVD", contained image duplicates of the print magazines.
The plaintiff argued that the archive, which included an introductory sequence set to music and a search feature, was a new work.
On June 30, 2008, the Eleventh Circuit held (Greenberg III)[8] that National Geographic's reproduction of its magazine electronically was privileged under the federal copyright statute.
[9] Since National Geographic's victory in the Second Circuit, several publications (including The New Yorker, Playboy, Atlantic Monthly, Mad Magazine, and Rolling Stone) have either produced or announced plans to produce complete reproductions of their prior paper magazines on DVD or a restricted website for subscribers.
As a result of this ruling National Geographic announced it is releasing the full 120-year version of its magazine at the end of October 2009.