Public libraries can lend out electronic books, the European Union's highest court has ruled.

The judgment confirms the opinion of Maciej Szpunar, advocate general to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), who said back in June that lending out e-books should be permitted in the 28-member-state bloc provided authors are fairly compensated in the same way as for physical books.

The court was asked to rule on a case brought by the association of Dutch public libraries—Vereniging Openbare Bibliotheken (VOB)—against Stichting Leenrecht, an authors' rights collecting foundation. VOB argued that the rules should be the same for digital lending as for traditional books, and the District Court in The Hague asked the CJEU to clarify whether that view was consistent with a 2006 EU copyright directive on rentals and lending.

Specifically, VOB wanted to use a "one copy, one user" model. A copy of an e-book is placed on the server of a public library, allowing a member of the public to download it. Only one copy at a time can be lent out in this way. After the lending period for the e-book expires, the downloaded copy can no longer be used by that user, but another copy can be downloaded by someone else.

In Thursday's ruling, the CJEU said this approach was fine, provided the e-book lending met any other conditions placed on library books by national legislation, as was the case in the Netherlands. The court also underlined that the library e-book must be obtained legally: "the public lending exception does not apply to the making available by a public library of a digital copy of a book in the case where that copy has been obtained from an unlawful source."

Nick Poole, chief of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, told Ars in an e-mail:

While most libraries in the UK lend e-books the choice of titles is limited, and less than one percent of all books lent are e-books. Currently copyright law restricts the choice of e-books the public can borrow and flexibility with which libraries can lend. This ruling is a welcome step towards balancing fair remuneration for rights-holders with the needs of the public and the benefits that digital knowledge sharing brings to us all.

Ars has asked the Publishers Association for its views on the ruling, but has not yet received a reply. This post will be updated once a comment is available.

Update, 10.48am GMT, November 11: Commenting on the decision, Stephen Lotinga, chief executive of the Publishers Association, told Ars: