Gepubliceerd op donderdag 11 september 2014
Digitalisatie door bibliotheken toegestaan zonder toestemming van de rechthebbenden
HvJ EU 11 september 2014, IEF 14192, Zaak C-117/13 (Technische Universität Darmstadt tegen Eugen Ulmer KG)
Verzoek om een prejudiciële beslissing, Bundesgerichtshof Duitsland [IEF 11773 en IEF 12654] . Auteursrecht. Reproductie. Digitaliseren. Conclusie A-G [IEF 13911]. Een lidstaat mag toestaan dat bibliotheken zonder toestemming van de rechthebbenden bepaalde boeken van hun verzameling digitaliseren om deze op elektronische leesplaatsen aan te bieden. De lidstaten mogen binnen bepaalde grenzen en onder bgepaalde voorwaarden, waaronder de betaling van een billijke vergoeding aan de rechthebbenden, toestaan dat gebruikers de door een bibliotheek gedigitaliseerde boeken afdrukken op papier of opslaan op een USB-stick.
22 In those circumstances, the Bundesgerichtshof decided to stay the proceedings and refer the following questions to the Court for a preliminary ruling:
‘(1) Is a work subject to purchase or licensing terms, within the meaning of Article 5(3)(n) of Directive 2001/29, where the rightholder offers to conclude with the establishments referred to therein licensing agreements for the use of that work on appropriate terms?
(2) Does Article 5(3)(n) of Directive 2001/29 entitle the Member States to confer on those establishments the right to digitise the works contained in their collections, if that is necessary in order to make those works available on terminals?
(3) May the rights which the Member States lay down pursuant to Article 5(3)(n) of Directive 2001/29 go so far as to enable users of the terminals to print out on paper or store on a USB stick the works made available there?’
On those grounds, the Court (Fourth Chamber) hereby rules:
1. The concept of ‘purchase or licensing terms’ provided for in Article 5(3)(n) of Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society must be understood as requiring that the rightholder and an establishment, such as a publicly accessible library, referred to in that provision must have concluded a licensing agreement in respect of the work in question that sets out the conditions in which that establishment may use that work.
2. Article 5(3)(n) of Directive 2001/29, read in conjunction with Article 5(2)(c) of that directive, must be interpreted to mean that it does not preclude Member States from granting to publicly accessible libraries covered by those provisions the right to digitise the works contained in their collections, if such act of reproduction is necessary for the purpose of making those works available to users, by means of dedicated terminals, within those establishments.
3. Article 5(3)(n) of Directive 2001/29 must be interpreted to mean that it does not extend to acts such as the printing out of works on paper or their storage on a USB stick, carried out by users from dedicated terminals installed in publicly accessible libraries covered by that provision. However, such acts may, if appropriate, be authorised under national legislation transposing the exceptions or limitations provided for in Article 5(2)(a) or (b) of that directive provided that, in each individual case, the conditions laid down by those provisions are met.
