E-books can be lent by libraries just like normal books, rules EU’s top court
CJEU says it only applies to one copy at a time; must be obtained legally.
Public libraries can lend out electronic
books, the European Union's highest court has ruled.
The judgment confirms the opinion of Maciej
Szpunar, advocate general to the Court of Justice of the European Union
(CJEU), who said back in June that lending out e-books should be permitted in
the 28-member-state bloc provided authors are fairly compensated in the same
way as for physical books.
The court was asked to rule on a case brought
by the association of Dutch public libraries—Vereniging Openbare Bibliotheken
(VOB)—against Stichting Leenrecht, an authors' rights collecting foundation.
VOB argued that the rules should be the same for digital lending as for
traditional books, and the District Court in The Hague asked the CJEU to
clarify whether that view was consistent with a 2006 EU copyright directive on rentals and lending.
Specifically, VOB wanted to use a "one
copy, one user" model. A copy of an e-book is placed on the server of a
public library, allowing a member of the public to download it. Only one copy
at a time can be lent out in this way. After the lending period for the e-book
expires, the downloaded copy can no longer be used by that user, but another
copy can be downloaded by someone else.
In Thursday's ruling, the CJEU said this
approach was fine, provided the e-book lending met any other conditions placed
on library books by national legislation, as was the case in the Netherlands.
The court also underlined that the library e-book must be obtained legally: "the
public lending exception does not apply to the making available by a public
library of a digital copy of a book in the case where that copy has been
obtained from an unlawful source."
Nick Poole, chief of the Chartered
Institute of Library and Information Professionals, told Ars in an
e-mail:
While most libraries in the UK lend e-books
the choice of titles is limited, and less than one percent of all books lent
are e-books. Currently copyright law restricts the choice of e-books the public
can borrow and flexibility with which libraries can lend.
This ruling is a welcome step towards
balancing fair remuneration for rights-holders with the needs of the public and
the benefits that digital knowledge sharing brings to us all.
Ars has asked the Publishers Association for
its views on the ruling, but has not yet received a reply. This post will be
updated once a comment is available.
Regards
Pralhad
Jadhav
Senior
Manager @ Library
Khaitan
& Co
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