Copyright law in education
Copyright protects works of literature, science and art.
For the purposes of teaching, science and research, the Copyright Act (Urheberrechtsgesetz) (UrhG) provides for a number of exceptions in the form of limitations. Under certain conditions, these regulations authorise the use of third-party works and parts of works for teaching purposes without the consent of the copyright holder. They also ensure that no remuneration is payable to the author for the use of copyright-protected works in the context of teaching.
The Copyright Knowledge Society Act (Urheberrechts-Wisssensgesellschafts-Gesetz UrhWissG) became law on 1 March 2018. The previous regulations in favour of science and teaching were replaced by new Sections 60a to 60h, clarified and in some cases expanded. The most important changes in connection with the UrhWissG for universities are
- Up to 15% of a work may be used for teaching purposes or made available digitally - illustrations, articles from specialist journals and small works may be used in full.
- Press products such as newspapers and popular magazines are excluded from the extended usage authorisations - entire articles may no longer be used or sent.
- Text and data mining, the automated analysis of texts for scientific purposes, is permitted.
- In the case of interlibrary loan requests, up to 10% of a published work and articles may be sent to the user electronically - provided that the material is not used for commercial purposes.
Rights holders will receive remuneration for this use of third-party works in the form of standard payments made by the federal states to the collecting societies. The new law is initially limited to five years and will be evaluated after four years.
Providing scientific literature
Continue to use the opportunity to provide your students with all texts required for teaching and make these texts available on the relevant platforms on the basis of Section 60a UrhG. Please note that access must be restricted to the group of participants.
You are allowed to provide:
- up to 15% of a work
- individual articles and essays from specialised journals.
- works of small size (max. 25 pages in total) as well as complete illustrations and graphics.
- (complete) articles from newspapers and newsstand magazines may no longer be provided - a maximum of 15% is permitted here.
Use hyperlinks / references
Link to e-books and e-journals of the library. Linking to licenced texts is permitted under copyright law.
Use open access
Use open access publications and open educational resources. Texts that are available under a Creative Commons licence or a comparable licence for free content may also be used online in teaching. Please also observe the applicable licence conditions here.
S(kim) is happy to advise you
Coordinate your literature requirements with the university library. We will be happy to make suggestions as to how you can utilise the above-mentioned alternatives.
Further information
Consulting
We at S(kim) will be happy to advise you on the new copyright regulations. Even under the changed framework conditions, there are numerous possibilities for making texts available electronically. Please feel free to contact us to discuss your individual questions.
Contact and support
- E-Mail: support@th-owl.de
- Phone: +49 5261 702-2222
Our training courses
You can find our training courses here.
The IP driving license (IP-Führerschein) offers a free e-learning course on the protection of intellectual property with modules on copyright (Urheberrecht) and patent law (Patentrecht).
What do the new regulations of the UrhWisshG mean for you as a teacher?
The provision of digital documents according to § 60a UrhG is still permitted. You can provide texts to the extent permitted and your students can access them.
Does this also apply for illustrations?
Illustrations are treated as "minor works". The complete use of illustrations and graphics is permitted. The use of illustrations within a separate work is also possible as a quotation in accordance with § 51 UrhG.
May I continue to quote passages of text?
Of course, you may still quote individual passages of text or illustrations on the basis of Section 51 UrhG in accordance with the rules of good scientific practice, stating the source. The quotation must serve to explain your own explanations. It may only be cited to the extent necessary.
- Copyright law in science (Urheberrecht in der Wissenschaft)
- Copyright and related rights Act - UrhG (Gesetz über Urheberrecht und verwandte Schutzrechte (UrhG)
Information from other institutions
- University of Erlangen Nuremberg: Information on copyright in teaching (Universität Erlangen Nürnberg: Informationen zum Urheberrecht in der Lehre)
- University Duisburg Essen