​​​​​​ The following content is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legally binding information.

A Brief Introduction

In principle, the use of copyrighted works is permitted only to the author themselves. However, it is possible to transfer specific rights of use to third parties by granting usage rights.

In the context of instruction and teaching at educational institutions, specific regulations apply regarding the permissible use of copyright-protected works - or parts thereof - without the author's consent, provided that such use serves to better illustrate the instruction or teaching; this is known as the "privilege of use" (or "educational privilege").

Under the scope of this usage privilege, it is permissible to reproduce, distribute, make publicly available, and publicly perform works that have already been published, subject to certain limitations. "Public performance" refers, for example, to the use of third-party content in presentations for the purpose of illustrating instruction.

In this context, "making publicly available" is to be understood as the provision of works or parts thereof for retrieval via the Internet. Specifically, this means that - for the purpose of illustrating instruction and teaching - parts of a published work may be made available to participants on learning platforms or in electronic course reserves, provided they are password-protected.

Current Regulations

Pursuant to the Copyright Knowledge Society Act, effective March 1, 2018, the provisions specific to education and science - which had previously been dispersed throughout the Copyright Act - were consolidated into the newly introduced Sections 60a et seq. of the Copyright Act (new version).

According to § 60a UrhG (new version), the reproduction, distribution, making available to the public and public performance of works is permitted for the purpose of illustrating teaching and instruction at educational institutions for non-commercial purposes

• up to 15% of a published work (previously: a maximum of 12% or 100 pages)
• individual articles from trade journals or academic journals, illustrations, and graphics
• works of limited scope (printed works of up to 25 pages)
• out-of-print works

Pursuant to Section 60c of the Copyright Act (as amended), the reproduction, distribution, and making available to the public of up to 15% of a work is generally permitted for non-commercial scientific research. For one’s own scientific research, up to 75% of a work may be reproduced. These copies may not be passed on to others.

Here, too, it is crucial that the content is made accessible only to a limited circle of participants within the meaning of Section 60c of the Copyright Act (UrhG) (new version). The materials may be made available only on access-restricted platforms. Use of the materials is permitted solely for non-commercial research purposes.

The usage privileges do not extend to:

• portions of works intended for instructional use in schools (textbooks)
• entire articles from newspapers or "general-interest/newsstand magazines" (the 15% limit applies)
• the successive provision of portions of works, as this would constitute a circumvention of the 15% limit.

Compensation

The author continues to retain the right to appropriate remuneration. However, for the provision of documents, a lump-sum remuneration paid by the federal states to the collecting societies is permissible. Until now, this was regulated by a collective agreement between the states - represented by the KMK - and the collecting societies. Individual reporting of the documents utilized by the higher education institution is not required.

No License Priority

Publisher licensing offers no longer take precedence over legally permitted uses; that is, legally permitted uses may not be restricted by stipulations within contracts. However, please note that this applies only to contracts concluded after March 1, 2018. For questions regarding the status of licensing agreements, please contact the designated points of contact.

Evaluation and Fixed-Term Appointment

The new regulations apply initially on a temporary basis until the year 2023. If the legislature fails to take action by this deadline, the amendments introduced by the Copyright-Knowledge Society Act will cease to be effective.