With respect to the question of whether the reproduction by libraries of out-of-print materials for archive purposes violates the Copyright Act, the Intellectual Property Office recently explained that if the materials to be archived by a library are out of print or difficult to purchase, the library can ask for reproduction of such materials from another library, and the latter can claim fair use pursuant to the act. When a library acquires the reproduction of the out-of-print materials from another library, the reproduced copy becomes part of the former's archives. Pursuant to the act, such reproduced material may be displayed on the shelves of the library for borrowing or lending. However, such reproduced material should be provided in hard copy only; no provision of the reproduction in electronic form is allowed. Otherwise, a likelihood of infringement remains.
For further information on this topic please contact Cathy Ting at Lee and Li Attorneys at Law by telephone (+886 2 2715 3300), fax (+886 2 2713 3966) or email ([email protected]).
October 3 2011