Right but thats not whats happening here.

IA is physically holding a physical copy of the book, and then on a 1 at a time basis, allowing digital access to that physical book.

It would be like, purchasing a copy of the new york times, scanning it, and letting people online read it one at a time. Which would be perfectly legal except for the scanning and online. It paints the law as insane, not IA as flagrant copying.