Digitised out-of-print books and authors' rights: a new question for the CJEU

Case C-301/15 Soulier et Doke is on its way from France to Luxembourg for a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The topic involves collecting societies and the right to authorise the reproduction and the representation in digital form of out-of-print books. The court asks:

Do the provisions ... of Directive 2001/29 [the InfoSoc Directive] preclude legislation… that gives approved collecting societies the right to authorise the reproduction and the representation in digital form of ‘out-of-print books’, while allowing the authors of those books, or their successors in title, to oppose or put an end to that practice, on the conditions that it lays down?

As usual, the UK Intellectual Property Office has to take a position on whether the government should be advised to enter the fray or not. Your opinion may therefore be helpful. If you would like to comment on this case, just email policy@ipo.gov.uk by no later than Friday 7 August 2015.