- Specialized in copyright law
- Advice at the highest level
- Years of experience in the defense and enforcement of copyright claims
We advise and represent Museums in all matters relating to digitization
Lawyer Carl Christian Müller
Your contact person
Rechtsanwalt Carl Christian Müller, LL.M. Fachanwalt für Urheber- und Medienrecht
Competence in copyright law
Lawyer Carl Christian Müller is a specialist lawyer for copyright and media law. He has been advising museums on all copyright issues since 2007. Among other things, he supports digitization projects and advises on all copyright and data protection issues in this context.
Digitization of collections in compliance with copyright law?
Museums make cultural assets available to the general public for permanent preservation. In today's information society, the so-called digitization of cultural heritage is playing an increasingly important role for all types of institutions that store and make cultural assets accessible, both in terms of contemporary use and long-term preservation. The digitization of collections is regarded as the major task of the future for museums. It comes alongside the traditional tasks of collecting, preserving, researching and communicating.
Lack of legal instruments for digitization
In recent years, the legislator has made a number of changes to the copyright limitation provisions with regard to the digitization measures of memory institutions, such as the introduction of the limitation provision on orphan works. Overall, however, it can be stated that there has been no significant improvement or simplification with regard to the copyright issues that arise for museums in this context. At the same time, however, digitization has opened up enormous opportunities to create new values, to systematize a retrieval system and at the same time to make the collections accessible to a wider public than before. We would be happy to advise you on these issues. Get in touch with us!
Berlin Declaration on Open Access
More and more museums are digitizing their collections. On the one hand, the aim is to digitally preserve analog collections. However, it is also and above all about opening up the collections to new and much larger user groups - it is about nothing less than the presentation of the collections for research and networking that can be accessed worldwide. This open access movement has one of its main starting points in the "Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities". According to this declaration, data and digitized material published online under open access conditions should, as a rule, be freely downloadable, stored and (re-)used free of charge. The Berlin Declaration was initiated in 2003 by the Max Planck Society and other research institutions. Its aim is to promote free, comprehensive and easy access to scientific knowledge and cultural heritage via the internet.
Copyright relevance of acts of use in the exhibition
In addition to the classic display of the object in the exhibition rooms of the museum, the exhibition is now accompanied by a large number of other acts of use that are relevant to copyright law. On the one hand, there is modern exhibition technology (multimedia or reading stations), in which the work is no longer directly perceptible, but is presented through the use of media. On the other hand, we should also think of the acts of use accompanying the actual exhibition, such as the exhibition catalog, merchandising, media coverage, etc. Finally, the accompanying exhibition technology, such as audio guides or museum apps that contain background information on the exhibits or are used as an integral part of an exhibition about music, also raises copyright issues.
Rights clearance for copyright uses in museums
If the museum wants to use the work in terms of copyright, it must first clarify who the rights holder is. In practice, clarifying rights - especially for older objects such as photographs or films - often turns out to be detective work. In such cases, it is often impossible to determine where the rights to the documents lie. If the necessary rights of use cannot be obtained for this reason and the film or photograph is nevertheless used, this constitutes an infringement of rights under copyright law, provided that property rights (still) exist and the copyright barrier system does not intervene. In such cases, the rights holder is entitled to claims for removal, injunctive relief, information and damages. Furthermore, intentional acts of exploitation without the consent of the copyright holder constitute criminal acts. [< nbsp]The information often found on homepages, in exhibitions, catalogs or other printed matter that not all copyrights could be clarified despite research increases the risk of warnings considerably, as such clauses make it clear that no permission has been obtained and yet knowingly exploitation is taking place.
Consent is not required for every act of use
However, exploitation does not have to be waived in all cases where the rights holder is unknown. Copyright protection is limited in time. Once copyright protection periods have expired (70 years after the death of the author), the work can be used by anyone. In this context, the question also arises as to whether a work is protected by copyright at all. If the so-called characteristic of a work is to be denied because, for example, the level of creation required under copyright law has not been reached, no copyrights need to be observed. In this case, ancillary copyrights may apply under certain circumstances, but their term of protection (usually 50 years after publication) is much shorter. In addition, depending on the case, the so-called limitations of copyright law may apply, which at least allow the work to be used without permission, although not always without remuneration.
Checklist before using an object:
Before conducting extensive investigations into the rights holder in individual cases, it should first be checked from a legal perspective whether it is necessary to obtain the rights of use at all. This is of course also against the background that no license fees should be paid where this is not even necessary for legal reasons.</p
- Does the exhibit even fall under the scope of copyright or related rights? If no: free use.
- If yes: Are there still terms of protection? If no: free use.
- If yes: Does the intended use fall within the scope of copyright law? If yes: always use without permission but subject to remuneration depending on the limitation.
- If no: Is the museum the owner of the necessary rights of use?
Competence in copyright law
We have been advising museums on copyright issues for almost 15 years, in particular in connection with exhibitions, rights clearance issues, legal changes and digitization. In this context, we also offer lectures or webinars to train employees. Please feel free to contact us about this.
