Criteria of Copyrightability of Texts and Collective Works

IRDT PaperSeries Nr. 2

Criteria of Copyrightability of Texts and Collective Works

Katharina Erler-Fridgen

If texts and collections of texts or data are collected, processed and information is extracted from them, copyright framework conditions must be observed. If the texts and collections used are protected by copyright, copying processes can constitute acts of reproduction under Section 16 Copyright Act. The right of public access according to Section 19a Copyright Act can also be infringed if the source texts are presented together with the evaluation results on the web or to other researchers. In the following, the criteria for the protectability of texts under copyright law will be presented, the differences between various types of texts will be explained and the protection of collective works will be discussed.