Copyright / Authors' Rights

The publication of scholarly works is closely linked to copyright issues and the rights of authors. Particularly in the context of Open Access and digital publishing, it is important to understand the legal framework governing the use, distribution, and republication of works. The following information provides an overview of relevant aspects of copyright law, as well as ways to protect your own authors’ rights and use them to promote open scholarly communication.

Copyright

Copyright law serves to protect intellectual property. Works of literature, science, and art are protected by the Copyright Act (UrhG). These include, among other things, texts, photographs, computer programs, music, films, and works of visual art. Specifically for the use of copyrighted works in education and academia, there are legally permitted uses known as exceptions to copyright law. These allow the use of a work within the legal framework even without the author’s consent.

Legally Permitted Uses for Teaching, Research, and Institutions (Sections 60a–60e UrhG)

 

§ 60a UrhG Unterricht und Lehre§ 60b Unterrichts- und Lehrmedien§ 60c UrhG Wissenschaftliche Forschung§ 60d UrhG Text und Data Mining für Zwecke der wissenschaftlichen Forschung§ 60e UrhG Bibliotheken

The Right of Quotation is an important legal limitation in scientific discourse. In addition to cite images, it is also possible to cite text, film, and music.

Requirements for the right of quotation:

  • The work cited must have already been published.
  • The purpose of the quotation must be within reasonable and appropriate limits.
  • Provided that the source is cited (Section 63 UrhG) and the prohibition against alteration and distortion is observed (Section 62 UrhG)

A quick note: Open licenses help avoid uncertainty. Images and graphics can be published in the KITopen repository under appropriate open licenses.

More Information

Authors' Rights

More and more funding agencies are requiring that publications be made publicly available in accordance with the principles of Open Access. The Helmholtz Association’s Open Science Policy also requires KIT researchers to provide open access to their scientific publications. KIT Library promotes the concept of Open Access through its publication services and supports you in safeguarding your rights as an author.

Forms of Rights Transfer

As creators, authors generally hold all rights to their works. Through a publishing contract or similar forms of rights transfer, they assign so-called exploitation or usage rights to publishers.

Simple/non-exclusive rights of use (Section 31(2) UrhG)
A simple right of use allows the work to be used in the authorized manner without precluding use by the author(s) themselves or by third parties. If you transfer simple rights of use to a publisher, you retain the right to dispose of your work and to publish it in repositories such as KITopen Open Access.
Exclusive rights of use (Section 31(3) UrhG)
If you grant exclusive rights to your work, the publisher may use it to the exclusion of all other parties. Publishing agreements with pure open-access journals or open-access publishers generally permit the further distribution of publications on repositories such as KITopen. A traditional publisher, however, will typically demand exclusive rights by default and thus seek to restrict your rights and prevent you from using other Open-Access publication channels.

Options for Amending the Author Agreement (Before Signing the Contract)

You can amend the publishing contract to allow for secondary publication of your work in a publicly accessible repository such as KITopen. The amendments must be made before the contract is signed:

Removal of restrictive publication rights
If you grant only non-exclusive rights of use for the electronic version of the publication in your publishing contract, you can republish it in KITopen. In the simplest case, you can remove restrictive language from your publishing contract—such as “exclusive rights,” “exclusive,” or “all” usage rights for the online publication—from the contract text. In many cases, publishers accept these changes.
Contract Addenda
You can attach an addendum to your publishing contract to secure the simple right of use for open-access publication via KITopen. The contract addendum becomes valid as soon as a reference to it is included in the publishing contract and the publisher does not object but proceeds with the publication process.

Options for Open Access Publication as a Secondary Publication (After the Contract Is Signed)

If you did not secure the rights for open-access publication when your work was published by a publisher, you still have the option to subsequently republish your work in a publicly accessible repository such as KITopen Open Access:

Re-publication based on publisher policies
Many publishers allow, in some cases, the parallel electronic distribution of their publications in publicly accessible repositories such as KITopen. However, in most cases, this is subject to conditions (e.g., embargoes) and depends on the full-text type of your publication. Jisc’s Open Policy Finder provides information on what specific publishers allow with regard to the secondary publication of scholarly works. When publishing your work in KITopen, we routinely follow these publisher policies and display them to you in the full-text upload workflow.
Re-publication under the Copyright Act
Since the beginning of 2014, authors have been able, under Section 38(4) UrhG, under certain conditions, make the postprints or peer-reviewed manuscripts of their papers published by a publisher freely accessible via the Internet and in publicly accessible repositories such as KITopen, subject to a one-year embargo period. Although this provision applies regardless of any assignment of usage rights stipulated in the publishing contract, it is very restrictive in nature and subject to several conditions. Therefore, we first check in KITopen whether expanded publication options are available through relevant publisher policies.

Urheberrecht, Autorenrechte und Lizenzen

Beratung und Unterstützung zum Urheberrecht und der Anwendung des Urheberrechtsgesetzes (UrhG)

Telefonisch unter +49 721 608-43106 oder per E-Mail an: linda sefrin∂kit edu

Beratung und Unterstützung zu Autorenrechten und (offenen) Lizenzen

Telefonisch unter +49 721 608-43128 oder per E-Mail an: tomislav jersek∂kit edu

N. N.

Tomislav Jersek
Tomislav Jersek

tomislav jersek ∂does-not-exist.kit edu