Rights information relating to content – Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek clarifies the legal situation

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Wherever possible, all digital content available via Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek will either include information on the rights status or permitted uses will be assigned by a Creative Commons licence. The licenses and legal-status information apply to the digital content at the participating institutions and, accordingly, also to the thumbnails shown on the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek portal itself.

Creative Commons licences

Creative Commons licences establish the conditions and extent to which licensed digital content can be used beyond what is permitted by copyright law. Direct communication with the copyright holder or ‘licensor’ (usually the author or creator) to clarify whether and how digital content available online may be used will no longer be necessary. This will make it much easier to use content in creative and innovative ways. Creative Commons licences are also adapted to the respective national regulations worldwide. They are also machine-readable, which makes it possible to search directly for digital content with specific licences.

Users can determine the most important conditions for using licensed content from the names of the licences. The simplest Creative Commons licence merely requires that the work is clearly attributed to the author or licensor. Further restrictions can be added, depending on whether copyright holders want to allow commercial use or not, whether they grant permission for derivative works or not, and whether derivative works must be made available under the same license terms or not. Through different combinations of these conditions, there are a total of six Creative Commons licences to choose from. Version 3.0 of the Creative Commons licence suite is currently available in Germany (version 4.0 is soon to be released, which will address the licensing of database rights). The licences are as follows:

Attribution 3.0 Germany Details

Attribution 4.0 International Details

Attribution - ShareAlike 3.0 Germany Details

Attribution - ShareAlike 4.0 International Details

Attribution - NoDerivatives 3.0 Germany Details

Attribution - NoDerivatives 4.0 International Details

Attribution - NonCommercial 3.0 Germany Details

Attribution - NonCommercial 4.0 International Details

Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 3.0 Germany Details

Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 4.0 International Details

Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivatives 3.0 Germany Details

Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivatives 4.0 International Details

Use of content with Creative Commons licences

Anyone who wants to use content with a Creative Commons licence must first check which type of licence the author has chosen. The licence specifies the scope and conditions under which the content may be used. The various licences each have their own descriptive symbols that make it easier to recognise which licence applies.

With all Creative Commons licences, authors grant potential users the right to use their content free of charge. Users, however, can only claim this right if they adhere to the conditions that the authors have attached to the use of their works. This means that the user can use the content free of charge, but only within the restrictions of the applicable licence. Creative Commons licences do not in any way affect existing copyrights (which would anyway not be enforceable under German law).

DDB right statements

In addition to the standard Creative Commons licences, further information on the legal status of digital content may be found on the online DDB database. For example, some digital content may no longer be, or may never have been protected by copyright law. This status is clearly identified by the Public Domain Mark, a label which shows that a work is no longer protected by copyright and may be reused by anyone without any restrictions:

Public Domain Mark 1.0 - free of copyright restrictions around the world Details

A work can also be dedicated to the public domain by a copyright holder:

CC0 Public Domain Dedication 1.0 - content dedicated to the public domain Details

Another possible situation is when rights are reserved but conditions have been established under which permissions for use may be acquired. Such content could be labelled as follows:

Free access - no reuse Details

Restricted access - no reuse Details

Unknown Details

Orphan work Details

Out of copyright - non commercial re-use Details

Conclusion

By using the Creative Commons licences and consistently providing information on how digital content may be used, Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek ensures that users operate within the law and are aware of the fact that digital content is not automatically free of copyright. Licensed works may be used free of charge, but only in the way that is stated in the terms and conditions of the licence.

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