Public lending right in Germany

EBLIDA-EGILHelsinki, 19 February 2009

Dr. Harald Müller

Public Lending RightFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Public Lending Right program compensates authors for the potential loss of sales from their works being available in public libraries.

Fifteen countries have a PLR program, and others are considering adopting one. Canada, the United Kingdom, all the Scandinavian countries, Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Israel, Australia, and New Zealand currently have PLR prgrams. There is ongoing debate in France about implementing one. There is also a move towards having a Europe-wide PLR program administered by the EU.

The first PLR program was initiated in Denmark in 1941, but because of the war was not properly active until 1946. The idea spread slowly from country to country and many nations' PLR programs are quite recent developments.

National variationsPLR programs vary from country to country. Some like Germany, and the Netherlands have linked PLR to copyright legislation

and have made libraries liable to pay authors for every book in their collection. Other countries do not connect PLR to copyright. For a nation like Canada or Australia the majority of funds would be going to authors outside the country, much of it to the United States, which is unpalatable to those nations. Payments

How amounts of payment are determined also varies from country to country. Some pay based on how many times a book has been taken out of a library, others use a simpler system of payment based simply on whether a library owns a book or not.

The amount of payments is also variable. The amount any one author can receive is never very considerable. In Canada for instance the payment is C$38.30 per book per library, with a maximum of C$2,681 (in 2008) for any one author in a year. Eligibility criteria

Different countries also have differing eligibility criteria. In most nations only published works are accepted, government publications are rarely counted, nor are bibliographies or dictionaries. Some PLR services are mandated solely to fund literary works of fiction, and some such as Norway, have a sliding scale paying far less to non-fiction works. Many nations also exclude scholarly and academic texts. EU directive

Within the European Union, the public lending right is regulated since November 1992 by directive 92/100/EEC on rental right and lending right. A report in 2002 from the European Commission [1] pointed out that many member countries had failed to implement this directive correctly.

The PLR directive has met with resistance from the side of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA). The IFLA has stated that the principles of 'lending right' can jeopardize free access to the services of publicly accessible libraries, which is the citizen's human right.[2]. The PLR directive and its implementation in public libraries is rejected by a number of European authors, including Nobel Laureates Dario Fo and José Saramago.

§ 27 Urheberrechtsgesetz

§ 27 Vergütung für Vermietung und Verleihen(1) Hat der Urheber das Vermietrecht (§ 17) an einem Bild- oder Tonträger dem

Tonträger- oder Filmhersteller eingeräumt, so hat der Vermieter gleichwohl dem Urheber eine angemessene Vergütung für die Vermietung zu zahlen. Auf den Vergütungsanspruch kann nicht verzichtet werden. Er kann im vor-aus nur an eine Verwertungsgesellschaft abgetreten werden.

(2) Für das Verleihen von Originalen oder Vervielfältigungsstücken eines Werkes, deren Weiterverbreitung nach § 17 Abs. 2 zulässig ist, ist dem Urheber eine angemessene Vergütung zu zahlen, wenn die Originale oder Vervielfältigungsstücke durch eine der Öffentlichkeit zugängliche Ein-richtung (Bücherei, Sammlung von Bild- oder Tonträgern oder anderer Originale oder Vervielfältigungsstücke) verliehen werden. Verleihen im Sinne von Satz 1 ist die zeitlich begrenzte, weder unmittelbar noch mittelbar Erwerbszwecken dienende Gebrauchsüberlassung; § 17 Abs. 3 Satz 2 findet entsprechende Anwendung.

(3) Die Vergütungsansprüche nach den Absätzen 1 und 2 können nur durch eine Verwertungsgesellschaft geltend gemacht werden.

Art. 27 Copyright law

Article 27 Remuneration for Rental and Lending (1) If the author has granted to the producer of an audio recording or a film

the rental right (Article 17) with regard to a video or audio recording, the hirer shall nevertheless pay an equitable remuneration to the author for the rental. The claim to remuneration cannot be waived. It may only be assigned in advance to a collecting society.

(2) For the lending of originals or copies of a work in respect of which further distribution is permitted under Article 17(2), an equitable remuneration shall be paid to the author if the originals or copies are lent through an institution accessible to the public (library, collection of video or audio recordings or of other originals or copies). Lending in the meaning of the first sentence shall be temporary making available for use, not for the purposes of directly or indirectly making profits; Article 17(3), second sentence, shall apply mutatis mutandis.

(3) The claims to remuneration under paragraphs (1) and (2) may only be asserted through a collecting society.

Art. 17 Copyright law

Article 17 Distribution Right (1) The distribution right is the right to offer to the public or to put into

circulation the original work or copies thereof.(2) If the original work or copies thereof have been put into circulation in

the territory of the European Union or of another Contracting State of the Convention Concerning the European Economic Area through sale thereof with the consent of the holder of the distribution right, their further distribution shall be permissible with the exeption of rental.

(3) In the meaning of the provisions of this Law, rental shall be the temporary making available for use for the purposes of directly or indirectly making profits. However, making available the following original works or copies thereof shall not be deemed to constitute rental

1. edifices and works of applied art, or2. in the context of a work or service relationship for the exclusive purpose

of being used in fulfilling obligations arising out of the work or service relationship.

The payment system

„remuneration shall be paid to the author” Who has to pay? The law is silent about the payer Public/private corporation which gives funds NOT the single library Remuneration is funded by public money Must go to a collecting society

The payment system pt. 2

The „Gesamtvertrag“ system Similar to Nordic collective licence system „Kultusministerkonferenz“ = assembly of

cultural ministers of the German states (Länder) plus Federal government

Collecting societies (VG Wort, GEMA etc.) See example

The payment system pt. 3

Statistical data = number of lendings Regular inquiries in public and university

libraries Arbitration tribunal How does an author get the money? She/he has to fill out a formular and send it to

a collecting society Remuneration gets paid ONCE for each book