BREAKING: CJEU says that EU law allows e-lending
Are libraries allowed to lend electronic books in their collections under the Rental and Lending Rights Directive ? If so, under what conditions? Is there such thing as digital exhaustion under the InfoSoc Directive ? These were t he questions in Vereniging Openbare Bibliotheken v Stichting Leenrecht , C-174/15, a reference for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) from the Rechtbank Den Haag (District Court of The Hague, Netherlands). As reported by this blog, this reference arose in the context of proceedings brought by the association of Dutch public libraries which - contrary to the position of Dutch government - holds the view that libraries should be entitled to lend electronic books included in their collections according to the principle "one copy one user". This envisages the possibility for a library user to download an electronic copy of a work included in the col...