This answer applies to the European Union. laws may vary elsewhere. Also, I’m not a lawyer.
Short answer: No, it’s usually not legal. exceptions apply, but they are exceptions; it can be assumed to be illegal until proven otherwise.
You are reading: Is it illegal to download pdf books
Long answer: This basically comes down to whether it’s legal to create a copy of copyrighted material.
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downloading vs. streaming: Downloading involves creating a copy of the original item. streaming means viewing the content without creating a copy. Since you are downloading books, you are creating a copy and copying laws apply. (It’s worth noting that even if you can stream the book instead of downloading it, it’s still illegal, as a result of a landmark ruling by the European Court of Justice in the Filmpeler case.)
article 2 of the eu copyright directive states that books are protected material (emphasis mine):
Member states shall establish the exclusive right to authorize or prohibit direct or indirect, temporary or permanent reproduction by any means and in any form, in whole or in part:
(a) for authors, of their works;
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(b) for performers, from fixations of their performances;
(c) for producers of phonograms, of their phonograms;
(d) for producers of first film fixations, with respect to the original and copies of their films;
(e) for broadcasting organizations, of the fixations of their broadcasts, whether such broadcasts are transmitted by cable or over the air, including by cable or satellite.
- however, article 5 of the same law establishes a “private copying exception” in which an individual may be allowed to make a copy for private non-commercial purposes (emphasis mine):
- Member states may provide exceptions or limitations to the right of reproduction provided for in article 2 in the following cases:
(a) with respect to reproductions on paper or any similar medium, made through the use of any type of photographic technique or through any other process that has similar effects, with the exception of sheet music, provided that the owners of the rights receive fair compensation ;
(b) with respect to reproductions on any medium made by a natural person for private use and for purposes that are not directly or indirectly commercial, provided that the rights holders receive fair compensation that take into account the application or non-application of the technological measures referred to in article 6 to the work or service in question;
(c) with respect to specific acts of reproduction carried out by public libraries, educational establishments or museums, or by archives, that are not for direct or indirect economic or commercial advantage;
(d) with respect to ephemeral recordings of works made by broadcasting organizations through their own facilities and for their own broadcasts; The conservation of these recordings in official archives can be allowed, due to their exceptional documentary nature;
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(e) with respect to reproductions of broadcasts made by social institutions for non-commercial purposes, such as hospitals or prisons, provided that the rights holders receive fair compensation.
- however, in a landmark ruling in the aci adam case, the european court of justice ruled that it is illegal to create a copy under this private copying exception if the source is illegal (paragraphs 56-58):
Consequently, all users who acquire such equipment, devices and media are indirectly penalized, since, by bearing the burden of the tax that is determined regardless of the legality or illegality of the source from which such reproductions come, inevitably contribute to repairing the damage caused by reproductions for private use made from an illicit source, which are not permitted by Directive 2001/29, and which are therefore obliged to assume a non-negligible additional cost to be able to carry out the reproduction. private copies covered by the exception provided for in article 5(2)(b) of said directive.
It cannot be considered that such a situation satisfies the condition of the fair balance that must be found between, on the one hand, the rights and interests of the recipients of fair compensation and, on the other, those of those users.
In light of all the above considerations, the answer to the first and second questions [for context on what these questions are, see paragraph 19 on the same page] is that eu law, in particular Article 5(2) b) of Directive 2001/29, in conjunction with paragraph 5 of that article, must be interpreted as precluding national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which does not distinguish the situation in which the source from which a reproduction for private use originates is made lawful from the source from which that source is illicit.
- Note that the ecjt also ruled that this ruling excludes national legislation, meaning that eu member states cannot impose more lenient laws (although they can impose harsher laws).
The bottom line of all this is that if the source of the copyrighted material acquired the material legally, then it is possible for you to make a copy of it (other laws apply in that situation; those laws are outside the scope of this answer). however, if the source illegally acquired the copyrighted material, then it is illegal under all circumstances for you to make a copy of it.
The next question is whether libgen legally acquired the book. I’ll take it self-evident that for most books, they didn’t (if they did, why would publishers sue them?). consequently, the conclusion is:
It is not legal to download copyrighted books from libgen. You can still download them if the copyright has expired (for example, if the books are in the public domain) or if the copyright holder copyright allows free distribution (for example, a cc-by license, which is typical for most open access journal articles).
see also: the answer to this question on the law exchange, written by someone more familiar with copyright law than I am.
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