Funferal

Irish libraries to pay copyright holders for borrowed books

I reported some time ago on the EU directive that required libraries to pay copyright holders every time a text is borrowed. The context of that post was that the Irish government, in implementing the directive, had exercised a clause allowing certain classes of libraries to be exempted and in the 2000 Copyright Act, declared all Irish libraries exempt, something which is not allowed, and which might lead to all Irish libraries being declared liable for 10 years of back fees.
I bring the issue up again because RTÉ now reports that the government is to bring forward a new scheme that will now only exempt school libraries. In addition, according to the report:

An Artists’ Resale Right payments system is also being introduced for artists whose original works are resold through the art trade.