Copyright refers to the rights to one's own work, such as pictorial, textual, sculptural or digital creations.

For copyright to apply, the work must meet the criteria of originality. The originality level describes the degree of individual expression in a work and determines whether or not a work is protected by copyright. A painting, for example, is covered by copyright, whereas an AI-generated image may not be covered by copyright. In Germany, copyright expires seventy years after the death of the author.

Rights of use:

Creators can give others different types of permission to use their work, with limits on where, when and how it can be used

• Only one person can use it.
• Only non-commercial use
• Only a specific forms of publication (e.g. printed, online, etc.).
• Only for a specific purpose (e.g. advertising an event).
• Only for a specific period of time
• The creator must be attributed in a way he or she decides
• Exclusive right of use, which excludes use by the author

The legal consequences of unauthorised use

The unauthorised use of a copyrighted work may result in legal action and associated costs. Creators might also claim money for any damage. German courts typically award damages in the high double-digit or low triple-digit euro range. To be on the safe side and to be able to respond to justified or unjustified claims, documents proving permission to use a piece of work should be kept. Written permissions should be scanned or saved as a screenshot (e.g. in the case of a chat history). In some cases, only verbal authorisation or implied authorisation through conclusive behaviour is available. One example of this would be using promotional material to advertise an event. 

Popular kinds of licences

• CC licences: various components that can be used individually or in combination. Find more information in this article: Link
• In English-speaking countries, the concept of public domain (CC0) is common.

Associated legal fields

• With the 2021 copyright reform, the right to ‘caricature, parody and pastiche’ was incorporated into law. This also includes memes.
• Find a Tech & Data article about AI and copyright here: Link
• Copyright law has further regulations, for example regarding quotations.
• Trademark law is also  a relevant field when publishing