For all documents which are published in electronic form (e-documents) using data networks such as the University of Hohenheim’s OPUS university document server, German copyright law is fully applicable.
The German Copyright Act (Urheberrechtsgesetz, UrhG) offers authors of intellectual work (works pursuant to Sec. 2 UrhG) protection in two respects. It protects the authors in their intellectual and personal relationship to the work (moral rights). This includes the right to first publication (Right to publication Secs. 6, 12 UrhG), the right to recognition (authorship Sec. 13 UrhG), and the prohibition of modification Sec. 14 UrhG.
It also includes material protection (rights of exploitation). The author has the sole right of commercial exploitation of his/her work. “Sole” means that only the author may commercially exploit his/her work - and may prohibit all others from doing so. It also acts to secure appropriate remuneration for the use of his/her work. The rights of exploitation include among others the right to copy Sec. 16 UrhG, distribution rights Sec. 17 UrhG, and the right to make their works publicly accessible Sec. 19a UrhG (e.g. “put online”). “Uploading” and making one of your works available on the Hohenheim OPUS = “putting online” represents an act of making your work publicly accessible according to Sec. 19a UrhG for which you as the author must give KIM permission (transfer of right of use).

1. Licence agreements

In using your work, you must precisely define the scope of the transferred rights. You must reach agreements with the respective contracting party (publishing house, library, OPUS user) as to which types of use are included in the contract, that is, how your work is to be used (publication of your work e.g. as a paperback, audio book, journal, CD-ROM, online resource, etc.), which rights of exploitation (reproduction, distribution, modification, etc.) are to be included in this type of use (e.g. all or only individual types of use), and whether simply or sole rights of use are to be transferred.
If your electronic publication has been distributed online without the necessary conditions, it cannot be ruled out that your work will be changed without your knowledge or used in an objectionable way. For a commercial publication, such agreements are usually prohibited by the publishing house contract which is concluded between the author and the publishers.

1.1 Hohenheim OPUS licence module

At the beginning of the registration process for your publication on Hohenheim OPUS, you must decide on one of three licence agreements made available to you via OPUS before the registration form can be automatically generated. These clearly regulate the type and scope of the rights which the University of Hohenheim needs in order to make your publication available online as well as securing its permanent availability (publication agreement with the University of Hohenheim). You can expand this agreement and also set down rights regarding how your publication may be used by the “end users” (people, institutions, etc.). End users are people who access the OPUS contents and would also like to use them further. For the latter case, you can use two standard licence agreements, the contents of which are freely accessible as well as extensive descriptive information about them (http://de.creativecommons.org).

You can find detailed information on the three licences on the page “Licence module”.

2. Transferring rights of use

Copyrights themselves are non-transferrable pursuant to Sec. 29 (2) UrhG. The author can only provide others with rights of use (= permission to participate in the rights of exploitation for his/her work). The moral rights remain unaffected by this and continue to be valid without restrictions.

2.1 Sole transfer of rights of use (Sec. 31 (3) UrhG)

Only the holder of the rights of use is authorised to use the work in the way permitted, he/she can exclude or prevent all others (even the author) from using the work. The author of sole rights of use (e.g. publishing house) can, however provide others (e.g. author, library) with so-called sub-licences (Sec. 35 UrhG).

2.2 Simple transfer of rights of use (Sec. 31(2) UrhG)

As the author, you retain the sole right of use and may continue to use your work in any way you choose. As the author, you may, for example, use the publication you have placed on OPUS Hohenheim at any time. You can put it on your own homepage, send it via e-mail, or print it in a magazine or book. As the author, you can also transfer several, simultaneous simple rights of use for the same work (e.g. publication of your article at the same time as it is on OPUS, in a journal, as a chapter in a monograph, or as complete Open Access).

The holder of a simple right of use may only use your work in the way in which they agreed with you and cannot prohibit or prevent others from using your work. This right remains solely with you.

3. Publication of a text already published by a publishing house on OPUS Hohenheim

If your work has already been published by a publishing house, you must clarify with them which licence conditions you have agreed upon with the publishing house and whether these might conflict with publication on OPUS. If you have given the publishing house the sole rights of use to your work, and if you later want to put your work on OPUS Hohenheim, then you must check whether publication on OPUS Hohenheim is prohibited. In principle, this means that it is not possible to publish your work on the OPUS server without the publisher’s agreement. A summary of information about what individual publishers allow in the context of their “standard publishing contracts” regarding self-archiving of academic publications can be found on the SHERPA/RoMEO list (Publisher’s copyright & archiving policies) with the SHERPA initiative (Securing a Hybrid Environment for Research Preservation and Access). In particular it should be noted here that various conditions will be placed on the different versions of your publication (pre-print, post-print, edited publisher’s version).

4. Simultaneous publication of a text on OPUS Hohenheim and with a publishing house

If you would like to publish your work simultaneously on OPUS Hohenheim and with a publisher (in addition to a first publication on OPUS), you must make sure that you only transfer a right of use to the publisher which does not conflict with the further accessibility of the document on OPUS Hohenheim (simple right of use). The right of use (usually a simple right of use) given to the KIM Library is binding and must be taken into account when concluding a contract with a publisher.

5. Journals, newspaper articles, and contributions to collected works since 1995

For contributions to periodic collections (e.g. journal articles, newspaper articles, yearbooks, almanacs, etc.), you should take not of the rules of interpretation of Sec. 38 UrhG:

5.1 One-year period

All rights of use which were transferred to a publisher or editor (in cases of doubt, the sole right to reproduction and distribution is considered to have been transferred!) return to the author one year after the contribution has been published (Sec. 38 (1) UrhG). This means that one year after your work has been published, you may also publish the work on OPUS.

5.2 Contribution in a collection not published periodically

Sec. 38(1) UrhG also applies to contributions in collected works which are not published periodically (festschrifts, conference works, etc.) insofar as you do not require remuneration for the use of your contribution (Sec. 38(2) UrhG). Free copies or special deductions do not count as remuneration. After one year has passed, you may publish your work on OPUS.

5.3 Newspaper articles

Newspaper articles may be reproduced and distributed immediately after they have been published regardless of whether a simple or sole right of us has been transferred to a publisher (Sec. 38(3) UrhG).
Please note here that the regulations contained in Sec. 38 UrhG are optional regulations. This means that contractual deviations (e.g. prohibition of publication after one year) may be agreed upon. Regulations which deviate from Sec. 38 UrhG are only valid, however, if these are explicitly written in your publishing contract. If you have not signed a publishing contract, you can publish your contribution on OPUS Hohenheim at the latest one year after publication.