{"id":12881,"date":"2014-09-16T08:40:19","date_gmt":"2014-09-16T13:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/scholcomm\/?p=12881"},"modified":"2014-09-16T08:40:19","modified_gmt":"2014-09-16T13:40:19","slug":"pulling-astroturf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/scholcomm\/2014\/09\/16\/pulling-astroturf\/","title":{"rendered":"How useful is the EU’s gift to libraries?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Thursday the European Union’s Court of Justice issued an opinion<\/a> that allows libraries to digitize books in their holdings and make those digital copies accessible, on site, to patrons. \u00a0In a way, this is a remarkable ruling that recognizes the unique place of libraries in the dissemination and democratization of knowledge. \u00a0Yet the decision does not really give libraries a tool that promises to be very useful. \u00a0It is worth taking a moment, I think, to reflect on what this EU ruling is, what it is not, and how it compares to the current state of things for U.S. libraries.<\/p>\n

There are news stories about the EU ruling here<\/a>, here<\/a> and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What the EU Court of Justice said is that, based on the EU “Copyright Directive,” libraries have permission to make digital copies of works in their collections and make those copies available to patrons on dedicated terminals in the library,\u00a0 The Court is interpreting language already found in the Directive, and adding two points.\u00a0 First, library digitization is implied by the authorization for digital copies on dedicated terminals contained in the Directive, and, second, that this is permissible even if the publisher is offering a license agreement.\u00a0 Finally, the Court makes clear that this ruling does not permit further distribution of copies of the digitized work, either by printing or by downloading to a patron’s storage device.<\/p>\n

As far as recognizing what this decision is not, it is very important to realize that it is not the law in the United States. \u00a0It is easy sometimes, when the media gets ahold of a copyright-related story, to forget that different jurisdictions have different rules. \u00a0The welter of copyright information, guidelines, suggestions and downright misinformation can make the whole area so complex that simple principles can be forgotten. \u00a0So let’s remind ourselves that this interesting move comes from the European Union Court of Justice and is the law only for the EU member states.<\/p>\n

The other thing this ruling is not is broad permission for mass digitization.\u00a0 The authorization is restricted to copies that are made available to library patrons on dedicated terminals in the library.\u00a0 It does not permit wide-spread distribution over the Internet, just “reading stations” in the library.\u00a0 That restriction makes it unlikely, in my opinion, that many European libraries would invest in the costs of mass digitization just for such a relatively small benefit.<\/p>\n

So how does this ruling in the EU compare to the rights and needs of libraries in the U.S.?<\/p>\n

Let’s consider section 108(c) of the U.S. copyright law, which permits copying of published works for preservation purposes.\u00a0 That provision seems to get us only a little way toward what the EU Court has allowed.\u00a0 Under 108(c), a U.S. library could digitize a book if three conditions were met.\u00a0 First, the digitization must be for the purpose of preserving a book from the collection that is damaged, deteriorating, or permanently missing.\u00a0 Second, an unused replacement for the book must not be available at a fair price.\u00a0 Third, the digital copy may not be made available to the public outside of the library’s premises.\u00a0 This last condition is similar, obviously, to the EU’s dedicated terminal authorization; a patron can read the digital copy only while present in the library.<\/p>\n

Two differences between the EU ruling and section 108(c) are especially interesting:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The works for which this type of copying are allowed in the U.S are much more limited.\u00a0 The EU says that libraries can digitize any book in their collection, even if it is not damaged or deteriorating, and even if another copy, even a electronic one, could be purchased.\u00a0 This seems like the major place where the EU Court has expanded the scope for library digitization.<\/li>\n
  2. On the other hand, the use of a digital copy may be less restricted in the U.S.\u00a0 Instead of a dedicated terminal, a U.S. library could, presumably, make the copy available on a restricted network, so that more than one patron could use it at a time, as long as all of them were only able to access the digital copy while on the library premises.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In the U.S., of course, libraries also can rely on fair use.\u00a0 Does fair use get us closer to being able to do in the U.S. what is allowed to European libraries?\u00a0 Maybe a little closer.\u00a0 Fair use might get us past the restriction in 108(c) about only digitizing damaged books; we could conceivably digitize a book that did not meet the preservation standard if we had a permissible purpose.\u00a0 And the restriction of that digitized book to in-library use only would help with the fourth fair use factor, impact on the market.\u00a0 But still we would have issues about the purpose of the copying and the nature of the original work.\u00a0 Would general reading be a purpose that supports fair use?\u00a0 I am not sure.\u00a0 And what books could we (or could we not) digitize?\u00a0 The specific book at issue in the case before the EU Court was a history textbook.\u00a0 But textbooks might be especially hard for a U.S. library to justify digitizing for even limited access under fair use.<\/p>\n

    If we wanted to claim fair use for digitizing a work for limited, on site access, my first priority would be to ask why — what is the purpose that supports digitization?\u00a0 Is a digital version superior for some articulable reason to the print copy we own (remembering that if the problem is condition, we should look to 108)?\u00a0 One obvious purpose would be for use with adaptive software by disabled patrons.\u00a0 Also, I would look at the type of original; as I said, I think a textbook, such as was at issue in the EU case, would be harder to justify under U.S. fair use, although some purposes, such as access for the disabled, might do it.\u00a0 Finally, I would look at the market effect.\u00a0 Is a version that would meet the need available?\u00a0 Although the EU Court said that European libraries did not need to ask this question, I think in the U.S. we still must.<\/p>\n

    Ultimately, the EU Court gave European libraries a limited but useful option here.\u00a0 Unfortunately, in the U.S. we have only pieces of that option available to us, under different parts of the U.S. law.\u00a0 It will be interesting to see whether, in this age of copyright harmonization, U.S. officials begin to reconsider this particular slice of library needs because of what the EU has ruled.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    On Thursday the European Union’s Court of Justice issued an opinion that allows libraries to digitize books in their holdings and make those digital copies accessible, on site, to patrons. \u00a0In a way, this is a remarkable ruling that recognizes the unique place of libraries in the dissemination and democratization of knowledge. \u00a0Yet the decision … Continue reading How useful is the EU’s gift to libraries?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,29,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-copyright-issues-and-legislation","category-fair-use","category-libraries"],"yoast_head":"\nHow useful is the EU's gift to libraries? - Scholarly Communications @ Duke<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/scholcomm\/2014\/09\/16\/pulling-astroturf\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How useful is the EU's gift to libraries? 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