Lex Ferenda

The public lending right bill is up in the Seanad (Senate) this week - it got trapped in the election and is only resurfacing now.

Eoin Purcell has a good post dissecting it from a publisher’s point of view.

The history here is that the EU adopted a fairly daft provision in a copyright directive (wiping out the traditional position whereby lending of books in most types of library did not have copyright implications) and Ireland, sensibly, refused to apply this to public libraries. Alas, the Commission won the eventual legal battles (there were other refuseniks too), and we needed to write a bill.

I lobbied against this bill when the drafts were being discussed; I do support public money for authors and indeed even some measure of relating compensation to reading habits - but this is wrong, wrong and still wrong. The publishers of 100 years ago warned us that libraries would destroy the book industry. Lads (Eoin excluded), it hasn’t happened, and the fact that you were so wrong should encourage you to pipe down about it.

The fact that someone borrows a book from a public library (one of the most important parts of the public services and the education system, in my view) should not even be an issue for copyright law. No-one gains, and there are much better ways to support authors and small publishers. The loss is in the commodification of the library system and the creeping influence of copyright discourse in hitherto protected areas.

My work against the bill was very small and it was focused on the educational libraries. I’m relieved to see that the bill that emerged will not apply to educational libraries (who would have a stupidly time-consuming responsibility for dealing with data collection for the external agency responsible for PLR administration, and need more financial support and open access principles, not daft laws that will only slow them down), and of course, the big gain for the library communities is that the funding will come from the Arts budget and not the library budget (which comes via Environment & Local Government). Apparently, according to what was said in the Seanad, the education exemption will be put beyond any doubt at committee stage - and of course, the EU requirement is that the exemption be a genuine exemption (and not the cheeky Irish version of exempting all public libraries the first time out!).

The Irish Writers’ Union make a very strong case for supporting writers, and I don’t question that one bit. Many Senators speaking on the Bill made the point that the proposed scheme will benefit ’smaller’ authors. That’s absolutely laudable and they are right to support it on that basis. And I know we have no choice in putting this legislation through. I still sort of regret it, though.

Finishing off with a paragraph from a letter I wrote for the Union of Students in Ireland (my then employer!) to the then-Minister drafting the Bill, Michael Ahern. For these reasons, and for the reasons outlined above, it is very important that the exemption for educational libraries be included in the new Bill.

We welcome the fact that you have indicated publicly that educational establishments will be exempted from the scope of the revised scheme, and would strongly urge you to ensure that this proposal is included in statute law, in order to protect the important role of such libraries. The functions of an academic library differ from that of other public libraries, and the justification
for PLR payments (i.e. compensation for lost sales) cannot be transposed to libraries in educational institutions, where the book stock is typically wide-ranging and of substantial benefit to staff and students within that institution. Furthermore, any attempt to require such libraries to retain and manage data for the purpose of PLR payments would be a further administrative burden that libraries do not need, especially given the requirements of compliance with copyright legislation and licence arrangements related to student and staff photocopying.

Get it right.

You wait and wait and then a whole load come along at once…

Books are dangerous and you’d be best placed to avoid them. Especially in the US. Apparently taking down ISBNs gets you kicked out of the bookshop (they’re copyrighted, apparently - news to me and certain others). If you are silly enough to buy the book, then of course, Homeland Security will want to write it down (presumably they check it twice, while figuring out if you’re naughty or nice). Unfortunate enough to be a prisoner? Better check if it’s on the approved list of religious books (for prison libraries), then.

All this is but a preface to wishing you a very happy and thoughtful Banned Books Week

If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the Government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.

(Justice William Brennan, US v Eichmann 496 US 310 (1990))

Of course, if Verizon does it (on the public spectrum) it’s OK. More on that in a bit.

They have been busy down in Cork…

1. Via Fiona de Londras (who is no stranger to blogging) comes news of a new blog project of hers, the blog of the Centre for Criminal Justice and Human Rights. The CCJHR hosted a great conference on criminal law and the ECHR in June, and it’s great to see the blog up and running.

2. Initial details of the 2007 Legal Education Symposium have been published - UCC will host it, in Cork on December 7th. I have a particular attachment to this event - I was one of the organisers of the first Legal Education Symposium in September 2006, and I’ve just registered for the Cork event. Best of luck to the organisers…

(had to restart my computer mid-post, apologies for the half-finished post that some of you may have seen)