Copyright Law

There are those who want to see more stringency, others who want to see less – interests are greatly divided indeed in the debate on copyright law.More ...

In his book “Mashup – Lob der Kopie” (i.e., “Mashup – In Praise of the Copy”), the journalist Dirk von Gehlen describes the copy as a fundamental cultural technique.More ...

Creative Commons is a licensing system that enables authors to grant the rights to use their own work. It opposes copyright with a culture of the free exchange of intellectual property.More ...

The discussion of the introduction of a “culture flat rate” that would allow Internet users to download and share songs or films upon payment of a fixed monthly or annual fee has entered a new round in response to the results of a short report presented by the Alliance 90/The Greens parliamentary group in mid 2009.More ...

Digital rights management systems are supposed to protect copyrights, and yet they are also being used to undermine civil rights. We asked Dr Harald Müller, Chairman of the Legal Commission of the German Library Association (dbv), for his thoughts on the matter.More ...

The new Copyright Act has been in effect since January 2008. Not quite five years after the Act was last amended, a new balance has been struck between the interests of authors, exploiters, equipment producers and end-users, none of whom are, however, especially happy with the compromise solution.More ...