Title: English summary: Copyrighted resources in classes
Course: Informationen: Urheberrecht in Lehre und Studium – Aktuelles

Permissions and restrictions

The terms of use for copyright restricted digital resources in academic context have been heavily debated and resulted in a new law ("Urheber-Wissensgesellschafts-Gesetz", UrhWissG) which took effect 01/03/2018 and adjusts the copyright law ("Urheberrechtsgesetz", UrhG) for five years until evaluation.

- All permissions are restricted to the participants of a class, so you have to set a password restriction to your course (in Moodle: enrolment key), when using such digital resources.
- § 60a new UrhG (which contains the special permissions for academia) applies, amongst others, to scans from anthologies, fiction, textbooks, monographs, or reference books. Be careful with your own works and check your publishing contract: Important rights are often transferred to the publishers, so your work might not be free for use in your own classes but fall also under copyright restriction (!). Foreign works are also embraced by copyright law within Germany.
- Allowed quantities for distribution in classes:
  - Extracts: up to 15 % of the pages of the given work (also films, press, and non-scientific magazines)
  - Complete: works of "small size" (= i.e. max. 25 pages)
  - Complete: individual articles from scientific journals (but just some per issue)
  - Single illustrations and photos
  - Forbidden (new!): Any distribution of non-scientific newspapers or magazines (technically 15% of the article is allowed).

Are there alternatives?

- Links to ebooks, licensed by the University Library (in this case without quantity limitations, read further information)
- Reasonable quotations in a scientific discussion (e.g. slides or scripts) – correct references are inevitable!

What is generally permitted and future-proof?

In the long run, it is best to replace restricted works – where possible – with other open access published material or links to digital assets provided by the University Library.

- Sources you created yourself (or those with explicit consent of third parties), including films, scripts, seminar schedules, tasks, memos
- Works which are no longer protected (70 years after the death of the author; please note: later reprints, anthologies and translations are protected likewise)
- Works with free licenses (Public Domain, Open Access, Creative Commons)
- Generally, it is safer to link to internet resources than to download and upload them elsewhere (copies can be considered as an unauthorized reproduction)

In case of any uncertainties, you are welcome to contact the support-team for § 60a-related questions. This is no juridical service, but advice according to best knowledge.