03/02/2020 CURIA - Documents InfoCuria Case-law English (en) Home > Search form > List of results > Documents Language of document : English ECLI:EU:C:2014:2196 JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Fourth Chamber) 11 September 2014 (*) (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Directive 2001/29/EC — Copyright and related rights — Exceptions and limitations — Article 5(3)(n) — Use for the purpose of research or private study of works and other subjectmatter — Book made available to individual members of the public by dedicated terminals in publicly accessible libraries — Meaning of work not subject to ‘purchase or licensing terms’ — Right of the library to digitise a work contained in its collection in order to make it available to users by dedicated terminals — Making the work available by dedicated terminals which permit it to be printed out on paper or to be stored on a USB stick) In Case C‑117/13, REQUEST for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU from the Bundesgerichtshof (Germany), made by decision of 20 September 2012, received at the Court on 14 March 2013, in the proceedings Technische Universität Darmstadt v Eugen Ulmer KG, THE COURT (Fourth Chamber), composed of L. Bay Larsen, President of the Chamber, M. Safjan, J. Malenovský, A. Prechal (Rapporteur) and K. Jürimäe, Judges, Advocate General: N. Jääskinen, Registrar: M. Aleksejev, Administrator, having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 26 February 2014, after considering the observations submitted on behalf of: Technische Universität Darmstadt, by N. Rauer and D. Ettig, Rechtsanwälte, Eugen Ulmer KG, by U. Karpenstein and G. Schulze, Rechtsanwälte, the German Government, by T. Henze, J. Kemper and K. Petersen, acting as Agents, the Italian Government, by G. Palmieri, acting as Agent, and by S. Fiorentino and A. Collabolletta, avvocati dello Stato, the Polish Government, by B. Majczyna, acting as Agent, the Finnish Government, by H. Leppo, acting as Agent, the European Commission, by F. Bulst and J. Samnadda, acting as Agents, after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 5 June 2014 gives the following Judgment This request for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of 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 (OJ 2001 L 167, p. 10). The request was made in proceedings between the Technical University of Darmstadt (Technische Universität Darmstadt, ‘TU Darmstadt’) and Eugen Ulmer KG (‘Ulmer’), concerning TU Darmstadt’s making available to the public, by terminals installed within a library, of a book contained in its collection, the user rights to which are held by Ulmer. Legal context European Union law Recitals 31, 34, 36, 40, 44, 45 and 51 in the preamble to Directive 2001/29 are worded as follows: A fair balance of rights and interests between the different categories of rightholders, as well as between the different categories of rightholders and users of protected subject-matter must be safeguarded. … Member States should be given the option of providing for certain exceptions or limitations for cases such as educational and scientific purposes, for the benefit of public institutions such as libraries and archives, for purposes of news reporting, for quotations, for use by people with disabilities, for public security uses and for uses in administrative and judicial proceedings. The Member States may provide for fair compensation for rightholders also when applying the optional provisions on exceptions or limitations which do not require such compensation. Member States may provide for an exception or limitation for the benefit of certain non-profit making establishments, such as publicly accessible libraries and equivalent institutions, as well as archives. However, this should be limited to certain special cases covered by the reproduction right. … Therefore, specific contracts or curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?docid=157511&mode=req&pageIndex=1&dir=&occ=first&part=1&text=&doclang=EN&cid=1044953 1/6