Judgment in Case C-301/15 Marc Soulier and Sara Doke v Premier ministre and Ministre de la Culture et de la Communication

The European Court of Justice decided on 16 November 2016 that the copyright directive precludes national legislation authorising the digital reproduction of out-of-print books in breach of the exclusive rights of authors.

The Court considered that national legislation must guarantee the protection accorded to authors by the directive, and ensure, in particular, that they are actually informed of the envisaged digital exploitation of their work, while being able to put an end to it without formalities.

• Primary Source

EurActiv, 16.11.16: EU law comes to the defence of authors of ‘forgotten’ books http://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/news/eu-law-comes-to-the-defence-of-authors-of-forgotten-books/

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