Public Lending Right And Indian Position

Author: LawSphereX

Category: General Law

Published: 2026-08-23T20:49:23.611691+00:00

Updated: 2026-08-30T07:07:47.499Z

PUBLIC LENDING RIGHT AND INDIAN POSITION

Dr. Nandita S. Patil, Associate Professor, Department of P.G. Studies in Law, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Cttp. Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra

ABSTRACT

Public Lending Right is a right which provides payment to authors from Governments as a compensation for the free lending of their books by public and other libraries. It is first introduced in Denmark and at present there are

35 countries having active PLR systems. PLR systems fall into either State

Cultural Policy or Copyright Policy or a Specific system. There is no mention of Public Lending Right in the Berne Convention, TRIPS Agreement and WIPO Copyright Treaty. The national treatment obligation with respect to rights of remuneration continues to be controversial. India was against the PLR during the WIPO negotiation. India does not provide for PLR for authors of literary works. However, now is the time for India to introduce PLR system not as a part of copyright but as a part of cultural policy like that of Canada and Australia. Keywords: public lending rights, copyright, author, national treatment, India

Introduction

Public Lending Right (PLR) may be a copyright or a remuneration right. 1 It is a right which provides payment to authors from Governments as a compensation for the free lending of their books by public and other libraries. Through PLR authors get compensated for the free loan of their books by public and other authorities. 2 The demand for PLR originated in the 19th Century, in September 1883, a resolution claiming remuneration for the lending of books by ‘lending bookshops’ was passed at General German Writers Association. In 1917, a major Danish Author publicly claimed remuneration for public library lending of books. 3 PLR was first introduced in Denmark in 1946. Mostly this right is recognized in EU through the 1992 Rental and Lending Right Directive now Directive 2006/115/EC. Outside EU, this PLR system is also operated in Australia, Canada, Israel and New Zealand.

At present 35 countries have PLR system to support local authors which is regulated either under a Copyright System, a Specific System or Arts and Cultural Policy. 4 Under PLR systems eligible book contributors are compensated when their books are borrowed from public libraries. 5 All these systems cover public libraries but there is a difference in the meaning of this concept some systems includes scientific and research libraries and some school libraries as public libraries. 6 Also there is no uniformity in these systems about the work subject to PLR, it ranges from printed literary books (literary works, non-fiction works, children’s books, comics/graphic novels ) scientific works, sheet music, printed periodical, audiobooks on physical carriers, computer games on physical carriers, music on CDs, films on DVDs and recently to e-books, and e-periodicals.

7 In terms of identifying the author, Article 15(1) of the Berne Convention (Paris Act) states a rule that the name appearing on the work “in the usual 1 Committee on Copyright and Other Legal Matters, Background paper on Public Lending Right, April 2005, available at ifla. org, (Last visited 27 March, 2025)

2 Jim Parker, The Public Lending right and what it does, June 14, 2018, WIPO Magazine, available at

www.wipo.int 3 Committee on Copyright and Other Legal Matters, Background paper on Public Lending Right, April 2005, available at ifla.org, (Last visited 27 March, 2025) 4 Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, 45th Session, Geneva, Sabine Richly, Scoping Study on Public Lending Right, p. 6,available at https://www.wipo.int.copyright>sccr_45>, 4/04/24, (Last visited 27 March, 2025)

5 www.bl.uk, (Last visited 7 March, 2025)

6 Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, 45th Session, Geneva, Sabine Richly, Scoping Study on Public Lending Right, p. 6,available at https://www.wipo.int.copyright>sccr_45>, 4/04/24, (Last visited 27 March, 2025)

7 ibid

manner” is the author – at least for the purposes of instituting an infringement proceeding. National laws may customize this concept to reflect their own policies and many countries have in fact done so. 8 PLR allows authors to receive payment from government9 except in Spain, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium. 10 The authors eligible to receive PLR varies from country to country and includes authors of books, translators, original author of translated works, journalists, visual artists (as co-authors). Visual artists include, film artists, actors, composers, music text authors, musicians, narrators of audiobooks. In some systems even the producers of audiobook, film and music producers, and book publishers are entitled for PLR.

11 PLR and the Principle of National Treatment There is no mention of Public Lending Right in the International regime relating to copyright that is Berne Convention, TRIPS Agreement and WIPO Copyright Treaty. A PLR scheme based on copyright law would require national treatment as set out in the Berne Convention and TRIPS Agreement. The national treatment principle essentially protects against discrimination of foreigners vis-à-vis nationals. It means that works originating in one of the member States must be protected in each of the member States in the same way that such States protect the works of their own nationals. 12 This principle is provided in the Berne Convention under Article 5 (1) and in Article 3 of the TRIPS. Moreover, Article 1.

1 of the TRIPS requires Members to give effect to the provisions of TRIPS Agreement, thus obliging the member States to give effect to the obligations imposed by the Agreement within their respective jurisdictions. A PLR scheme under copyright law would thus mean that PLR under copyright law cannot discriminate against foreign nationals. 13 The TRIPS Article 3 national treatment guarantee with respect to intellectual property,

8 Resource Book on TRIPS and Development, UNCTAD-ICTSD, Cambridge University Press, p. 135, November

30, 2004, First Published in 2005, available at https://unctad.org/system/files/officialdocument/ictsd2005d1_en.pdf, (Last visited 30 March, 2025)

9 Jim Parker, The Public Lending right and what it does, June 14, 2018, WIPO Magazine, available at

www.wipo.int

10 Supra note 7

11 Id at 7

12Id at 14 13 Information Note on the Conflict between the Public Lending Right and National Treatment under International Copyright Law Author, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, EIFL, IFLA, April 2023, Paper and Statement, available at eifl. net, (Last visited 6 March, 2025) including copyright, is independent of the Berne Convention Article 5 guarantee, and apart from the specific Berne exceptions it incorporates, follows its own form. 14 As for rights covered, the national treatment obligation with respect to rights of remuneration continues to be controversial. 15 In 1996, there was discussions about a proposal to a possible Protocol to the Berne Convention by the International Secretariat of WIPO to the Third Session of the Committee of Experts.

16 However, it was rejected by the member States citing concern about the principle of national treatment due to which countries with huge translated works could be forced to pay most PLR payments to author’s outside the country. 17Also, it was argued that such right could pose unjustified financial burdens on developing countries especially on their libraries. In most of the countries PLR schemes are generally not treated as part of country’s copyright laws as copyright treatment would attract the principle of national treatment. 18 Also, many countries adopted PLR scheme for domestic authors only on the basis of justification that PLR is the promotion and sustainment of local culture and writing. PLR in United Kingdom (UK), Australia and Canada: A brief Overview UK’s is a ‘loan based’ PLR system i. e. payments are based on the number of times eligible titles are borrowed.

19 UK provides a specific system for PLR under the Public Lending Right Act, 1979 and the PLR payment is funded from the Department of Digital Culture, Media and Sport for eligible book contributors when their books are borrowed from public libraries (local libraries and Authorities). The entitlement to public lending right is dependent on the number of occasions on which books are lent out from particular libraries as specified by the scheme. For the purpose of the scheme ‘library’ means any one of a local library authority’s collections 14 Brauneis, Robert, "National Treatment in Copyright and Related Rights: How Much Work Does it Do? ", p. 9, (2013). GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works. 810. https://scholarship. law. gwu. edu/faculty_publications/810Available at https://scholarship. law. gwu. edu/cgi /view content. cgi?

article=2113&context=faculty_publications, (Last visited 30 March 2025)

15 Id at 29

16 Supra note 7 at 14

17 Eifl. net, Public Lending Right, accessed on 6/03/2025, See. , Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, 45th Session, Geneva, Sabine Richly, Scoping Study on Public Lending Right, p. 15,available at https://www. wipo. int. copyright>sccr_45>, 4/04/24, (Last visited 27 March, 2025) 18 Information Note on the Conflict between the Public Lending Right and National Treatment under International Copyright Law Author, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, EIFL, IFLA, April 2023, Paper and Statement, available at eifl. net, (Last visited 6 March, 2025) 19 Roy MacSkimming with Research assistance from Karoline Geoges, Public Lending Right in Canada Options for Renewal, Research Paper prepared for the Canada Council for the Arts, p. 25, available at https:// public lending rights.

ca, (Last visited 3 April, 2025) of books held by them for the purpose of being borrowed by the public and includes any such collection which is taken about from place to place. 20 This Act established PLR as an IPR, entirely separate from copyright. The PLR Act 1979 of UK provides for establishment of a scheme on PLR for the eligible authors for payments in respect of their books as are lent out to the public by local library authorities in the UK. The scheme determines the classes, descriptions and categories of books in which PLR subsists. 21 The duration of such PLR shall be from the date of the book’s first publication (or, if later, the beginning of the year in which application is made for it to be registered) until 50 years have elapsed since the end of the year in which the author died.

The payment towards public lending rights is paid from the Central Fund in which the sum of money is provided by the Parliament. 22 The Central Fund is controlled and managed by the Board established under the Act. The PLR Act 1979 and the Scheme of 1982 were amended by the Public Bodies (Abolition of the Registrar of Public Lending Right) Order 2013. 23 Since 2013 this scheme is administered by the British Library on behalf of the Government. Legislation to extend PLR to include remote loans of e-books and e-audiobooks became law as a part of 2017 Digital Economy Act. 24 Australia provides for public lending rights and educational lending rights (ELR) to compensate Australian creators and publishers for free multiple use of their books in public and educational libraries through Public Lending Rights Act 1985 and Educational Lending Rights Scheme 2000 respectively.

PLR and ELR are Australian government’s cultural programme administered by the Ministry for Arts. 25 PLR Committee is appointed by the Ministry of Arts and is responsible for managing the lending right scheme and has advisory role for the educational lending rights scheme. 26In 2023, electronic books and audiobooks are also eligible for PLR scheme. Canada’s is a ‘holding based’ PLR system i. e. payments to the authors are based on the presence of eligible titles in public library collections. 27 In Canada the calculation of PLR payments to Canadian author’s is determined by the PLR Commission, an advisory body of the Canada

20 ibid

21 https://www.legislation.gov.uk, (Last visited 26 March, 2025)

22 ibid

23 www.bl.uk, (Last visited 7 March, 2025)

24 Society of author.org, Public Lending Right, (Last visited 7 March, 2025)

25 https://www.copyright.com.au, (Last visited 3 April, 2025)

26 https://www.arts.gov.au, (Last visited 3 April, 2025)

27 supra note 19

Council for the Arts. Only those creators whose library survey results amount to at least $50 qualify to receive PLR payment. 28There is also a minimum 48 pages limit for eligible book (minimum 24 pages for children’s book). Practical books, educational books and periodicals are ineligible under the PLR scheme. PLR and India India does not provide for PLR for authors of literary works. India was against the PLR during the WIPO negotiation, the Delegation of India stated that India, as a developing country, did not accept the idea of the right of public lending, in light of the fact that absence of public lending right did not seriously endanger authors' interests, and, at the same time, the recognition of such a right could pose unjustified financial burdens on developing countries, especially on their library systems.

29 Presently in India the rights available to authors are copyrights under the Copyright Act 1957. At international level, apart from the copyright royalty there are four different types of remuneration schemes namely Public lending payments(PLR), the French motion picture subsidy system, Private copying levies (levies on equipment that can make copies of works of authorship (as well as of productions protected by related rights), from photocopiers to audio and video equipment, and on blank media from paper to magnetic tape and optical disks), Droits de Suite (A droit de suite or resale right is a limited exception to first sale exhaustion of copyright in the original embodiment of a work, such as a painting or a sculpture)30 India does not provide for any of these four remuneration scheme.

As some countries provide PLR scheme for domestic authors only on the basis of justification that PLR is the promotion and sustainment of local culture and writing, India needs to do the same. India needs to provide PLR scheme for Indian authors only as a part of promotion of local culture and writings in local languages so that the principle of national treatment will not be an issue.

28 https://publiclendingright.ca, (Last visited 3 April, 2025)

29 WIPO BCP/CE/IV/3 (December 9, 1994), p. 5, COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS ON A POSSIBLE PROTOCOL

TO THE BERNE CONVENTION, p.5, Fourth Session Geneva, December 5 to 9, 1994, available at https://tind.wipo.int/record/20135?v=pdf#files, (Last visited 30 March, 2025) 30 See., Brauneis, Robert, "National Treatment in Copyright and Related Rights: How Much Work Does it Do?", (2013). GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works. 810. https://scholarship.law.gwu.edu/faculty_publications/810, available at https://scholarship.law.gwu.edu/cgi /view content.cgi?article=2113&context=faculty_publications, (Last visited 30 March, 2025)

Conclusion

The absence of PLR in the international regime relating to copyright means there is no international obligation to introduce PLR under the intellectual property regime. It means for India there is no obligation to introduce PLR as an intellectual property right rather it can introduce it under some specific system or as a part of cultural policy. There is no other scheme of remuneration other than copyright royalty in India. Hence, India needs to think of introducing PLR scheme for the promotion of local culture and local languages under cultural policy for which it could either opt for ‘holding based’ PLR system like Canada or ‘loan based’ PLR system like UK.