>To avoid litigation, it looks like Rainer may go through the effort to remove the content, time which could be more productively spent elsewhere.

There's a simple, albeit temporary solution: only those issues where no author complains about it being accessible are made accessible. Other issues, just mark as "not available because {insert name(s) here} threaten(s) to sue". I think there would be no deception if it was done this way.

Then, as time permits, distill the PDF into a different format and make articles available separately.