Is jouw boek slachtoffer van piraterij? Onderneem actie voor 1 december

29 november 2021

De European Writers’ Council (EWC) waarschuwt voor piraterij door de samenwerking die The New Zealand Library is aangegaan met de Internet Archive. Door deze samenwerking worden 600.000 boeken gescand en wereldwijd uitgeleend zonder toestemming van de auteurs. Ook boeken van Nederlandse auteurs worden beschikbaar gesteld.

29/11/21 – Update van International Publishers Association

  • On November 29, the NZNL announced it will put on hold plans to donate books in the overseas collection to IA. There is no timeline for a new decision. 
  • Previously, NZNL had called for publishers to opt out from the donation, a position that was challenged by PANZ and numerous publishers who affirmed permission is required for digitization and making available.
  • The opt-out process included requirements of proof of rights and unique numbers of the titles to be withdrawn, stating that “Emails from persons or organisations whose names correspond with rights-holders’ names will be sufficient proof of rights.”
  • Pursuant to the suspension announcement, the opt-out deadline of December 1st is no longer applicable.
  • NZNL informed PANZ they will give a 2 months’ notice for stakeholders to express their views (likely through public consultation) before taking any other steps with regards to the international/overseas collection. 
  • Recall this collection, exclusively made of foreign titles, would have been donated to IA, as NZNL is seeking to increase its capacity to host collections of national works, including NZ indigenous authors.
  • According to legal advice obtained by PANZ, NZNL would be liable for infringement under NZ copyright law, should the books be donated for digitization and making available by the IA without permission from copyright owners.
  • During the last months, PANZ engaged directly with multinational publishing companies (mostly based in UK, Australia, US) owning the majority of works listed for donation submit their opposition.
  • Numerous publishing companies and associations wrote to Minister Jan Tinetti and the National Library opposing the donation on the grounds of copyright infringement as permission wasn’t sought by NZNL.
  • In its communication, NZNL does not admit the process would be illegal. Instead, it states the donation is being reconsidered in light of feedback received

Bericht van de EWC

Dear EWC Member,

The New Zealand National Library is partnering with pirates: the Internet Archive.

The National Library “donates” now over 600,000 books from their collection to be scanned and loaned worldwide, without license or consent by the authors, and, of course, without remuneration.

Please inform your members and ask them to look up in the list of books if they have titles in it. It concerns not only books written in English, or translated into English, published in New Zealand but also books published in Europe, from their so-called “overseas collection”.

Most of the “donated” books were published before 1989 but are still in copyright.

The opt out procedure is described below in the Alert sent by the US Authors‘ Guild, and also in the link to the NZ Library:

“Despite strong opposition from the New Zealand Society of Authors and international groups including the Authors Guild, the National Library of New Zealand (NLNZ) is moving ahead with its plan to donate 400,000 books from its overseas collection to the Internet Archive for digitization and lending through its Open Library platform. This collection likely contains tens of thousands of books —many still protected by copyright—and may include your books.

While it is unfortunate that New Zealand officials are choosing to partner with the Internet Archive—an entity that has consistently flouted copyright law—over our objections, the NLNZ is allowing any author whose book is included in the collection to opt out of the scheme in response to the concerns raised about the legality of “controlled digital lending.

Authors who do not wish their books to be digitized by the Internet Archive and loaned out through Open Library have until December 1, 2021, to opt out and withdraw their books.”

How to opt-out

“We are stunned the National Library would partner with internet pirates that damage New Zealand literature on a daily basis,’ says PANZ President Graeme Cosslett. ‘The Internet Archive’s repeated infringements of New Zealand works show their true nature – no claims to made-up laws, fake protocols or sanctimonious ideals can obscure this – they are committed to taking work from Aotearoa’s authors and publishers. How can the National Library stand alongside internet pirates and not New Zealand’s own literary community?”

Kind regards,

Nina George

President of the European Writers‘ Council