03/02/2020
CURIA - Documents
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.
Costs
Since these proceedings are, for the parties to the main proceedings, a step in the action pending before the
national court, the decision on costs is a matter for that court. Costs incurred in submitting observations to the
Court, other than the costs of those parties, are not recoverable.
On those grounds, the Court (Fourth Chamber) hereby rules:
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.
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.
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.
[Signatures]
* Language of the case: German.
curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?docid=157511&mode=req&pageIndex=1&dir=&occ=first&part=1&text=&doclang=EN&cid=1044953
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