Free works and open content

From the point of view of German copyright law, there are strictly speaking only two types of so-called "free works": those for which the term of protection has expired and the "official works". The so-called "open content", on the other hand, as well as open source software is not free of copyrights. Rather, they are subject to special rules of use.

The copyright is limited in time. If the author dies, the right is first transferred to the heirs. 70 years after death, the right expires completely and without restriction. The temporal limitation of copyright may be of particular interest for the use of other works in e-learning materials, especially if historical material is being used.

Notice:
A work whose duration of protection has expired is officially in the public domain. If, for example, a writer died more than 70 years ago, the texts can be copied, edited, printed or placed on the Internet by anyone. There is no need to obtain rights of use or to pay royalties.

However, the use of (presumed) public domain works is often not uncritical - several rights with different terms of protection could exist simultaneously. If, for example, two authors have jointly written a scientific contribution, they are co-authors, and the right only expires 70 years after the death of the longest living of both.

Caution is also required when photographs of public works are to be used. For example, it is not permitted to place a photo of the Mona Lisa from an external website or an online database on your own website. Irrespective of the legal status of the work depicted, the photograph is protected by the copyright or the right to a picture of the photographer, who has an independent period of protection.

What are public domain works and what does Open Source mean? The Multimedia Communications Lab at TU Darmstadt has the answer! (available only in German)

Notice:
There are several intellectual property rights for many intellectual contents, which often have different durations. Only after all intellectual property rights have expired does the entire content become a public domain.