Legal freedoms of use: the limits of copyright

The Copyright Act provides restrictions on exclusive copyrights, the so-called limitation provisions. In the development and use of e-learning content, these provisions are of particular interest if the learning material contains content from other persons (so-called third-party works or third-party material). If a third-party material covered by a limitation is used, then the user is released from the obligation to obtain the necessary rights from the copyright holder. The regulations governing exceptions are therefore legal permits, which are also referred to as legal licenses.

In most cases, it will be necessary to verify the compatibility of an intended use with the relevant scheme before it is implemented. For example, anyone who incorrectly cites - in the copyright sense - by exceeding the limits of citation freedom commits a copyright infringement. This can have legal consequences (cf. Kreutzer/Hirche 2017: 47-48).

You can read further definitions in the glossary.