Following the approval of the Bundesrat (Federal Council) on november 28, 2008, it will continue to be permissible to upload small parts of a work, works of minor scope, and individual contributions from newspapers or magazines to school or university intranets. This regulation, enshrined in § 52a of the Copyright Act (UrhG), was temporary until the end of 2008 and has now been extended until December 31, 2012.
Thus, § 52a UrhG enables schools and universities to organize teaching, research, and instruction more effectively and up-to-date.
§ 52a UrhG was inserted into the Copyright Act by the First Act on the Regulation of Copyright in the Information Society on September 10, 2003, and was then limited until December 31, 2006. The new regulation aimed to enable schools and universities to make texts accessible on screen that were previously distributed as copies, for example. The interests of exploiters or authors were taken into account by allowing only parts of published works, works of minor scope, or individual articles from specialized journals to be made available in delimited, closed networks (intranets) for appropriate remuneration. Since scientific publishers nevertheless feared unreasonable impairments to their core business, the regulation was initially temporary. Following an initial evaluation of its practical application in 2006, a conclusive assessment of the regulation was not possible. Against this background, the Fifth Act Amending the Copyright Act of november 10, 2006, extended the limitation period by two years.
The latest evaluation has shown that § 52a UrhG is an important regulation for universities, enabling them to conduct research and teaching in a modern and up-to-date manner. The norm is also gaining increasing importance in the school sector. Schools' experiences with intranet usage have been consistently positive. However, the Act must also ensure appropriate remuneration for rights holders in practice. Not all necessary collective agreements between rights holders and users have yet been concluded. Therefore, the extension of the validity period of § 52a of the Copyright Act by four years is appropriate. A third evaluation, requested by the German Bundestag from the Federal Ministry of Justice, will provide a sufficient basis for a conclusive assessment.
Source: Press release of the Federal Ministry of Justice dated november 28, 2008
Goldberg Rechtsanwälte
Attorney Michael Ullrich, LL.M. (Information Law)
E-mail: m.ullrich@goldberg.de
