The CJEU ruled in Case C-263/18 Nederlands Uitgeversverbond and Groep Algemene Uitgevers v Tom Kabinet Internet BV and Others (see here) that: the sale of second-hand e-books through a website constitutes a communication to the public subject to authorisation by the author.

About Tom Kabinet:

Tom Kabinet, a dutch online platform specialized in the sale of so called “second-hand” e-books to its members, was first sued unsuccessfully by the Dutch Publishers Association (NUV) and the General Publishers Group (GAU) before the District Court and Court of Appeal of Amsterdam, and later in front of the District Court of the Hague, which decided to stay the proceedings and refer the case to the CJEU. Under the wide range of e-books had been also many copies of e-Books by illegal sources.

Secondary market for digital objects?

If the CJEU would have had decided against authors and for Tom Kabinet, there would have been only one glad third party: Amazon. Since 2013 they have the patent on re-selling e-Books on a “secondary market for digital objects”:

Press Release of CJEU:

https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2019-12/cp190159en.pdf