Digital Economy Act 2017

31 Lending of e-books by public libraries

(1) In section 5(2) of the Public Lending Right Act 1979 (interpretation) for the definition of “lent out” substitute—

• ““lent out” means made available to a member of the public for use away from library premises for a limited time (including by being communicated by means of electronic transmission to a place other than library premises) and “loan” and “borrowed” are to be read accordingly;”.

(2) Section 40A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (lending of copies by libraries or archives) is amended as follows.

(3) After subsection (1) insert—

“(1ZA) Subsection (1) applies to an e-book or an e-audio-book only if—

(a) the book has been lawfully acquired by the library, and

(b) the lending is in compliance with any purchase or licensing terms to which the book is subject.”

(4) In subsection (1A)—

(a) for “subsection (1)” substitute “subsections (1) and (1ZA)”;

(b) after paragraph (a) insert—

“(aa) “e-audio-book” means an audio-book (as defined in paragraph (a)) in a form enabling lending of the book by electronic transmission,”.