Permissibility of Non-Voluntary Collective Management of Copyright under EU Law - The Case of the French Law on Out-of-Commerce Books

AuthorOleksandr Bulayenko
Pages51-68
Permissibility of Non-Voluntary Collective Management of Copyright under EU Law
2016
51
1
Permissibility of Non-Voluntary Collective
Management of Copyright under EU Law
The Case of the French Law on Out-of-Commerce Books
by Oleksandr Bulayenko*
© 2016 Oleksandr Bulayenko
Everybody may disseminate this ar ticle by electronic m eans and make it available for downloa d under the terms and
conditions of the Digital P eer Publishing Licence (DPPL). A copy of the license text may be obtain ed at http://nbn-resolving.
de/urn:nbn:de:0009-dppl-v3-en8.
Recommended citation: Ole ksandr Bulayenko, Permissibility of Non-Voluntar y Collective Management of Copyright under
EU Law: The Case of the French Law on O ut-of-Commerce Books, 7 (20 16) JIPITEC 51, para 1.
Keywords: Copyright; EU; Collective Management; French; Mass Digitization; Out-of-Commerce; Books; Manda-
tory; Extended License; CJEU; C-301/15; Soulier and Doke; InfoSoc; Exceptions; Limitations
This article is an attempt to deepen the understand-
ing of non-voluntary collective management and its
possible use. First, it provides a detailed descrip-
tion of the French mechanism adopted for facilitat-
ing mass digitization and making out-of-commerce
books available, which was implemented through
a new form of collective management of copyright.
Then, it examines the mechanism’s compatibility
with the InfoSoc Directive through comparison with
the extended collective licensing.
Abstract: The possibility of the EU member
states to adapt copyright legislation to new circum-
stances and to address unforeseen issues is limited
by the list of exceptions and restrictions of the Info-
Soc Directive. In spite of this constraint, the EU copy-
right framework provides for a possibility of intro-
duction of non-voluntary forms of collective rights
management that can help to tackle some of the
contemporary problems with remuneration and ac-
cess.
A. Introduction
1 Digitisation of cultural heritage with the aim of its
preservation and making available online is one
of important public policy objectives in European
countries. Acquisition of the necessary permissions
from copyright holders is often complicated due
to the lack of information regarding numerous
rightholders and the fragmentation of rights.
In spite of its cultural importance, with a few
exceptions, mass digitization undertaken through
the usual rights clearance process is nancially
too burdensome for public institutions and private
undertakings. At the same time, many older
works still under copyright do not generate any
revenues to their rightholders, undermining the
signicance of copyright protection. In some cases,
legal mechanisms facilitating rights clearance may
pave a way to solving the problems associated with
the copyright architecture, increased access to
copyrighted works, and revenues to rightholders.
2 In March 2012, France adopted a law on the digital
use of out-of-commerce books of the XXth century1,
providing for a form of non-voluntary collective
management of exclusive rights necessary for digital
reproduction and providing access to copyrighted
works. While some stakeholders were consulted in
the legislative process, the legitimacy of the law
has been disputed since its adoption. In February
2014, the French Constitutional Council (Conseil
constitutionnel), replying to a constitutionality
request, established that the mechanism complies
with the Constitution2 and does not infringe property
1 Loi n° 2012-287 relative à l’exploitation numérique des
livres indisponibles du XXe siècle, JORF n°0053, 2 March 2012.
Originally, the law introduced 11 new Articles to the Intel-
lectual Property Code of France (CPI). Regarding deleted
22 February 2015 Article L134-8, see infra about the third
licensing scheme.
2 With Articles 2 and 17 of the Declaration of Man and Citizen
2016
Oleksandr Bulayenko
52
1
rights.3 Following persistent opposition, the Council
of State (Conseil d’Etat) decided on 6 May 20154 to
submit to the Court of Justice of the European Union
(CJEU) the question of whether the mechanism
introduced by the law for facilitating exploitation
of out-of-commerce books implemented through a
collective management organization is compatible
with Article 2 (on the reproduction right) and Article
5 (containing the exhaustive list of exceptions and
limitations) of the InfoSoc Directive.5
3
The rst part of the paper will examine in detail
the French mechanism for digitization of out-
of-commerce books, concluding by difculties
associated with its qualication. The second part will
outline a brief overview of the EU legal framework
on non-mandatory collective management and
continue with a comparative analysis of the French
mechanism and the extended collective licensing.
of 26 August 1789. This Declaration is integrated in the cor-
pus of French constitutional law.
3 C.C., 28 février 2014, M. Marc S. et autre, n° 2013-370 QPC,
para. 18: “rstly, the regime of collective management ap-
plicable to the right to reproduction and communication
in digital form of out-of-commerce books does not result
in the deprivation of property in the sense of Article 17 of
the Declaration; secondly, the framework of conditions un-
der which the rightholders enjoy their rights to intellectual
property in their works do not disproportionally prejudice
these rights in view of the objectives pursued; by conse-
quence, the complaints alleging prejudice to the right to
property have to be dismissed”. Some commentators crit-
icised the decision on the grounds that the Constitutional
Council confused the “general interests” (mentioned in pa-
ras. 12 and 14) justifying limitations to property rights with
interests of industry groups, see Emmanuel Derieux (2014),
‘Exploitation numérique des livres indisponibles : Déc-
laration de conformité à la Constitution des dispositions
des articles L. 134-1 à L. 134-9 du Code de la propriété in-
tellectuelle’, Revue Lamy Droit de l’Immatériel, No. 103, p. 36
and Sylvie Nérisson (2015), ‘La gestion collective des droits
numériques des « livres indisponibles du XXe siècle » ren-
voyée à la CJUE : le Conseil d’État face aux fondamentaux du
droit d’auteur’, Recueil Dalloz, No. 24, p. 1429.
4 C.E., 6 mai 2015, n°368208, M.S., Mme D., art. 2. Request for
a preliminary ruling from the Conseil d’État (France) lodged
on 19 June 2015 – Marc Soulier Sara Doke v Ministre de la
Culture et de la Communication Premier ministre (Case
C-301/15) OJ C 294/35, 7 September 2015. Question referred:
“Do the provisions, referred to above [Article 2 on the repro-
duction right and Article 5 on exceptions and limitations],
of Directive 2001/29/EC of 22 May 2001, preclude legisla-
tion, such as that analysed in paragraph 1 of this decision
[law related to the digital use of out-of-commerce books of
the XXth century], that gives approved collecting societies
the right to authorise the reproduction and the representa-
tion in digital form of ‘out-of-print books’, while allowing
the authors of those books, or their successors in title, to
oppose or put an end to that practice, on the conditions that
it lays down?”.
5 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 [2001] OJ L 167/10.
B. Collective Management of Digital
Rights to Out-of-Commerce Books
I. General Overview of
the Mechanism
4
The French law of 1 March 2012 introduced a statutory
mechanism for facilitation of use of so-called “out-
of-commerce books” of the XXth century.6 Out-of-
commerce books are dened as books that were
published in France before 1 January 2001, are no
longer an object of commercial distribution by a
publisher7, and are not in the process of publication
6 “Livres indisponibles” in original language. This phrase can
be literally translated into English as “unavailable books”.
The translation of “livres indisponibles” as “out-of-com-
merce books” seems to be more appropriate than the liter-
al translation in light of the denition provided by Article
L134-1 of the CPI, the contemporary discourse on out-of-
commerce works and the terminology used in relevant
European instruments, see Recital 4 of the Orphan Works
Directive speaking of “out-of-commerce works” (“œuvres
indisponibles dans le commerce”) and the Memorandum
of Understanding, Key Principles on the Digitisation and
Making Available of Out-of-Commerce Works, 20 Septem-
ber 2011, witnessed by Michel Barnier, Commissioner for
Internal Market and Services. Nevertheless, some authors
prefer to translate the term as “unavailable books” (Marcel-
la Favale, Fabian Homberg, Martin Kretschmer et al. (2013),
Copyright, and the Regulation of Orphan Works: A comparative
review of seven jurisdictions and a rights clearance simulation,
Report commissioned by the Intellectual Property Ofce of
the UK, 2013/31, p. 72 and Jane C. Ginsburg (2014), ‘Fair Use
for Free, or Permitted-but-Paid?’, Berkeley Technology Law
Journal, Vol. 29, p. 1425) or as “out-of-print books” (Sylvie
Nérisson (2015), ‘Has Collective Management of Copyright
Run Its Course? Not so Fast’, IIC, Vol. 46, No. 5, p. 506), or
use “unavailable books” and “out-of-commerce books” in-
terchangeably (Lucie Guibault (2015), ‘Cultural Heritage On-
line? Settle It in the Country of Origin of the Work’, JIPITEC,
Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 177, 178 and 181).
7 Availability of books on the second-hand market or at li-
braries is irrelevant for the legal qualication, see, Sénat,
Rapport fait au nom de la commission de la culture, de l’éd-
ucation et de la communication sur la proposition de loi de
M. Jacques Legendre relative à l’exploitation numérique des
livres indisponibles du XXème siècle, par Mme Bariza Kh-
iari, Sénatrice, N° 151, enregistré à la Présidence du Sénat
le 30 novembre 2011, p. 5, Frédéric Pollaud-Dulian (2012),
‘Livres indisponibles. Licence légale. Œuvres orphelines.
Numérisation. Bibliothèque’, RTD Com., No. 2, p. 339. Some
commentators observe with regret that studies, reports,
and other documents that were not published in large num-
bers and were not commercially distributed but are present
in library collections in small numbers are outside the pro-
visions regarding the out-of-commerce books, see Emma-
nuel Derieux (2012), ‘Le régime juridique de l’exploitation
numérique des livres indisponibles du XXe siècle : Cheval
de Troie de Google ?’, Revue Lamy Droit de l’Immatériel, No.
87, p. 65 and Emmanuel Emile-Zola-Place (2012), ‘L’exploita-
tion numérique des livres indisponibles du XXe siècle : une
gestion collective d’un genre nouveau’, Légipresse, no 295, p.
357.

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