Legal Issues in Digital Teaching

Quotation Right § 51 UrhG

The freedom to quote, which is ultimately contained in the right to quote, is a restriction of copyright for the benefit of the general public. The big question is: how far does this freedom extend? What are the prerequisites of the right to quote?

Find out more about Copyright (UrhG)

Limits to the freedom to cite

The basic rule is: a quotation is always permitted,

  • if it serves a specific citation purpose,
  • this purpose also justifies the scope of the citation,
  • the third party work or the third party part of the work is not altered,
  • and the source is correctly indicated.

Citation Purpose

The purpose of the citation requires that there is a connection in terms of content between the citing own work and the cited foreign work. This connection is always given if the quotation underlines or explains one's own remarks or if one's own remarks deal with the quoted work.

It is therefore best to always ask yourself the following question: does the quotation serve to explain the content of my own work?

The structuring of lecture material into dates, focal points, basics, in-depth studies, etc. are, as the conception of a course, a work in their own right. Other materials may be used to illustrate one's own conception. The self-created structure and the didactic objective of the teaching material must be so clear that the structure and the didactic objective determine which third-party material is used and to what extent. The purpose of the citation is not fulfilled if the own structure is only a consequence of the third-party materials used.

A misuse of a quotation occurs when the quotation embellishes or illustrates the author's own work, but is superfluous for the understanding and explanation of the author's own work. However, even if a quotation is only used to save one's own explanations, there is no privileging purpose of the quotation.

Citation Scope

The author's own work must be in reasonable proportion to the cited work. There are no concrete guidelines as to when the limits of appropriateness are exceeded. The limits arise in each individual case from the respective didactic context.

In any case, the limits of the scope of quotation are exceeded if one's own work is no longer in the foreground. This would be the case, for example, if the author's own work consisted exclusively of quotations or, in other words, exclusively of a compilation of third-party content.

No Changes in Content

The quoted work may be reproduced in the author's own words, but the content may not be changed.

Pictures, graphics, drawings, photos can be reproduced in whole or in extracts.

The permissible scope of the reproduction results from the respective didactic context.

Correct Source Reference

A citation must reflect the source in the correct form. In concrete terms, this means that each quotation must be marked in detail with the source and the name of the author.

Of course, there are different citation methods depending on the discipline, so here is just an example:
Mustermann, Martin (ed.): Der Eiweißverbrauch des Maikäfers im Rückwärtsflug, 1st edition, Frankfurt am Main 2011, Käfer-Verlag

The citation rules of one's own community must be observed. In the case of interdisciplinary work, it is sufficient to comply with the rules of one's own community, then the rules of the other community can be violated.

The citation of internet sources is evaluated differently in the communities because of the high frequency of changes. If internet sources are permissible, the time of retrieval should also be indicated. The other components of an internet citation result from the community rules.

Increased Claim for Image Citations

Since the use of images leads to the suspicion that they are merely used for decoration or illustration, the central question applies here in particular:

Does the image quotation serve to explain the content of my own work? Is it necessary for this purpose or does it only have an illustrative function?

As there is an extensive grey area on this issue, where no one can predict exactly how a conflict with the rights holders would be decided, it is advisable to give preference to images for which you have permission or a licence (see How can I acquire rights of use? ).

There are now many photo portals and image search options on the internet , to find images that have been published under a Creative Commons (CC) licence. Creative Commons (CC) licences generally allow for further use – under certain conditions.

If persons are depicted in the photo who are not merely an accessory (e.g., persons depicted by chance in front of a sight), their permission to publish their image must be obtained in accordance with the principles of the right to one's own image (§ 22 Art Copyright Act).

Ideally, the photographer has taken care of this before publishing the image. However, this remains a factor of uncertainty if the photographer has not provided any information on this. – This is true whether the image is used as a quotation or on the basis of a permission or licence (see How can I acquire rights of use? ).

Challenges with Film Quotes

The internet offers an unmanageable amount of videos for streaming or downloading. Youtube is an almost inexhaustible source. However, this source has some shoals that must be well navigated around. A large part of the videos on Youtube were uploaded by people who are not rights holders. The upload was illegal. The Youtube licences granted are in many cases ineffective empty licences. Those who have no rights cannot pass them on to others. It is often very difficult for users to determine whether a video was allowed to be uploaded or not.

Links offer a way out of this dilemma. A link does not create a copy, but merely points to another place where the video was published. Even if it is unclear whether a video was allowed to be uploaded, one may set a link. However, the link must be set openly. Framing (also known as “embedding” with the help of an “embed code”) gives the impression of showing one's own material and the legal leeway falls away. Only the open setting of links gives more possibilities.

When setting links, however, a limit must be observed: if a link would point to an obviously illegal source, it must not be set (e.g., all Harry Potter films for free). Obviously illegal sources are those where everyone knows: “That's not possible.”

The same citation purpose requirements apply to films as to all other third-party sources: The self-created structure of teaching material must determine the scope of use. In the case of films, the “temptation” to not be so precise is greater.

Only the scope of the citation that results from the respective didactic context is covered by the purpose of the citation. This scope is different in each individual case. In the case of didactically ambitious teaching material, it is very difficult to find a boundary between didactically necessary use and unnecessary “embellishment.” Finding this boundary is a technical question that has to be asked anew in each individual case. The biggest challenge here is not to be too generous in one's own favour.

Because there is no fixed limit to what is required, it can be legal to quote large parts of a film. But: the longer the excerpt used, the better one must be able to justify in a case of conflict why a shorter excerpt misses the didactic goal. The argument: “It's much nicer this way!” is not sufficient as a justification.

In most cases, a film is a joint production in which several people are involved, from the scriptwriters to the actors to the editors. This makes it very difficult to name the authors. As a rule, however, the ancillary copyrights lie with the film maker or producer, so that they can be contacted.

One hurdle for the use of cinema films is that if they are less than two years old, they may not be used at all, not even in small excerpts, without the permission of the rights holders. The use of such films is only possible if it is covered by a licence. Universities can obtain licences from the state picture offices .