Legal Issues in Digital Teaching

Copyright (UrhG)

Copyright is the right of the author (the creator) to his own individual intellectual works.

What is a work?

Works can be:

  • Texts “written works” (e.g., scientific papers, textbooks, novels, poems, stories, travel guides, speeches, librettos to operas)
  • Computer programmes
  • Representations of a scientific and technical nature (e.g., plans and tables)
  • Music “musical works”
  • Photos “photographic works”
  • Graphics, drawings, paintings “image works”
  • Films, video clips “film works”
  • DVDs, Websites “multimedia works”

However, not every creation is protected by copyright. The originality (level of creation) of the work is decisive.

The new work must have new features, at least in details. It must not be a mere repetition of what already exists. In the case of an overview, the required level of creation can be achieved if the compilation does not already result from the structure of the object depicted.

The conception of a course can also be a work in its own right. If the structure of the course, the decisions about the level, the style, the focal points are not self-evident, the required level of creation is reached.

Who is entitled to the copyright?

The copyright to a work always belongs to the author. He/she may determine when, how, where and under what conditions his/her work is published.

This is to be distinguished from the holder of the rights of use, to whom the author has granted the rights of use or exploitation of his/her work.

Cinematographic works are the combination of several components of works protected by copyright. Roughly described, the specific sequence of image and dialogue and/or music is protected by copyright.

In most cases, a film is a joint production involving several people, from scriptwriters to actors to editors. This makes it very difficult to name the authors. As a rule, however, the ancillary copyrights (see below) are always held by the film maker or producer, so that they can be contacted.

Duration of the Copyright

The rules of copyright apply for as long as the authors live and then for another 70 years.

Copyright passes to the heirs when the authors die. When the 70 years have also expired, all restrictions cease to apply. The works become “public domain” – everyone can use the works without restriction.

In the case of works with several authors, all rights lapse when the death of the longest-living author occurs 70 years ago.

For a work to be truly in the public domain, another hurdle must be cleared: The publication of the work must date back at least 70 years.

Limits of Copyright

The principle applies: If you want to use a copyrighted work – in whatever form – the consent of the rights holder is required!

However, various exceptions to this principle are regulated in the Copyright Act (UrhG) – the so-called limitations of copyright.

The relevant copyright limitations in the field of digital teaching are:

This means: If a copyrighted work is used within these limits, it does NOT require the consent of the rights holder.

If one wishes to use a copyrighted work, for example to incorporate it into one's own teaching material, one must check whether this is possible within the framework of the above-mentioned limitations of copyright.

The alternative is to obtain rights of use for the work. This would be possible through explicit permission from the author or through an appropriate licence.

Explicit permission to use from the copyright holder

This is in fact an individual contract between the creator (author) and the person who wants to use the work. At this point, it should be noted that legally speaking, oral agreements are just as binding as written ones. However, the written version is strongly recommended for reasons of proof.

Licences

Licences are also contracts between the creator of the work or the holder of the rights of use (e.g. a publisher) and the users. However, over time, especially in the digital world, certain types of contracts have emerged that appear again and again in the same form. The Creative Commons (CC) Licences belong to such so-called typified licence agreements, which makes them enormously easier to handle even for laypersons.

The permission of use or licence should grant the following rights of use:

  • Reproduction and distribution rights
  • Right of communication to the public
  • If editing is desired: rights to edit or redesign
  • If publication as OpenLearnWare is planned: right to make publicly available on the Internet

Some of these rights of use are already granted by CC licences from the outset!
This means that authors who publish their work on the internet under a CC licence automatically grant certain rights of use to their work. Which rights of use these are and under which conditions they were granted can be found in the CC licence type that the author has selected for his/her work.

Sharing on the internet thus becomes much easier, so CC licences are also particularly well suited for the OER-movement (Open Educational Resources).

Detailed information on Creative Commons (CC) licences

In addition to copyright, ancillary copyrights may also exist in certain works. These include, above all, photographs, sound, and film works.

Ancillary rights are neighbouring rights to copyright. They protect performances that are closely related to the copyrighted work but do not themselves constitute a copyrighted work. For example, record producers or film producers are entitled to ancillary copyright in music albums or films.

The scope of protection of neighbouring rights is largely equivalent to that of copyrights.