Press Release: Advocate General’s Opinion in Case C-117/13. Technische Universität Darmstadt v Eugen Ulmer KG

According to Advocate General Jääskinen, a Member State may authorise libraries to digitise, without the consent of the rightholders, books they hold in their collection so as to make them available at electronic reading points.

While the Copyright Directive does not allow Member States to authorise users to save a book digitised by a library onto a USB stick, it does not prevent, in principle, the book from being printed as a private copy.