Summary#
S-10678, the Literary Lifecycle Management (LLM) Act, would add a new article to New York’s General Business Law. It would prohibit intentional destruction for commercial purposes of certain books and set civil penalties; its stated goal is to protect those books. The bill is introduced and has not become law.
- The ban would cover a book published before 1970 or from a print run of fewer than 200 copies.
- “Destroy” would mean irreversibly removing pages from the book’s binding, or otherwise making the book permanently unusable by a human reader.
- The ban would apply to people, firms, businesses, associations, nonprofits and corporations.
- Violators would face penalties of $500 for a first violation, $2,000 for a second, and $5,000 for a third or later violation. A third or later violation would also carry a court injunction.
- A court could impose an additional penalty of up to the book’s market value. The Attorney General could bring a civil action to recover penalties for the state.
What it means for you#
- Businesses and organizations: You could not intentionally destroy a qualifying book for commercial purposes. The bill does not require you to sell, donate, preserve or transfer a book.
- Online retailers: The bill specifically says the Attorney General may bring an action against an online retailer believed to have engaged in a prohibited act.
- People who own books: The bill would not ban all book destruction. It applies only to intentional destruction for commercial purposes of books meeting either the age or print-run test.
- Readers and book collectors: The bill does not create a service to find or preserve books, or a process for people to report a planned destruction.
- General public: The bill creates a rule and penalties, not a new agency or a route for individuals to sue under this article.
Money#
No cost information is in the available material.
- The bill sets civil penalties and allows an additional penalty of up to the book’s market value; recovered penalties would go to New York State.
- It gives no estimate of enforcement, court or compliance costs.
What is unclear#
- “Commercial purposes” is not defined.
- The bill does not explain how repeat violations would be counted or how a book’s market value would be determined.
- It does not set out investigation steps, notice, hearings or appeals.
- The text does not explain how this rule would interact with protections already in current law. The supplied material does not include the current General Business Law, so that comparison could not be verified.
- The bill would take effect immediately if enacted, but passage is uncertain. It is currently an introduced bill referred to the Senate Rules Committee.
Case for#
- The bill appears intended to prevent commercial destruction of older books and books from very small print runs.
- A possible argument for the bill is that it uses age or print-run size as a test, rather than requiring proof that a book is valuable or rare.
- Civil penalties, an additional penalty tied to market value and court injunctions could give the state ways to enforce the ban.
Case against#
- The bill does not define “commercial purposes,” so it is unclear which activities would be covered.
- Its title refers to “rare books,” but the operative test is age or print-run size; the text does not require a book to be rare or valuable.
- The bill sets penalties but does not explain the process for deciding whether a violation occurred or how repeat violations are counted.
- A possible trade-off is that the ban could limit commercial decisions about books that meet its tests, without requiring owners to make them available for reading or preservation.