English
A. German Copyright Act of
Part I
Copyright
Section VIII
Special Provisions on Computer Programs
§ 69a
Object of Protection
…
(5) The provisions of §§ 95a to 95d do not apply to computer programs.
§ 69f
Infringement of Rights
(1) The right holder may require from their owners or possessors that all unlawfully manufactured or distributed copies or all copies intended for unlawful distribution be destroyed. § 98 (2) and (3) shall apply mutatis mutandis.
(2) Paragraph 1 shall apply mutatis mutandis to any means of which the sole intended purpose is to facilitate the unauthorized removal or circumvention of any technical device which may have been applied to protect a computer program.
Part IV
Common Provisions on Copyright and Neighboring Rights
Section I
Supplementary Provisions
§ 95a
Protection of Technological Measures
(1) Effective technological measures for the protection of works protected by this law or of other subject-matter protected by this law may not be circumvented without authorization of the rightholder, if the actor knows or has a reason to know that the circumvention takes place in order to enable access to such a work or subject matter, or to enable its use.
(2) Technological measures for the purpose of this law are technologies, devices and components, which in the normal course of their operation, are designed to prevent or restrict acts, in respect of protected works or other subject-matter protected by this law, which are not authorized by the rightholder. Technological measures are effective, if the use of a protected work or other subject-matter protected by this law is controlled by the rightholder through application of an access control, a protection process such as encryption, scrambling or other transformation, or a copy control mechanism, which achieves the protection objective.
(3) Prohibited are the manufacture, the import, the distribution, the sale, the rental, the advertisement for sale or rental and the possession for commercial purposes, of devices, products or components as well as the provision of services, which are
1. promoted, advertised or marketed for the purpose of circumvention of effective technical measures, or
2. have only a limited commercially significant purpose or use other than to circumvent effective technical measures, or
3. are primarily designed, produced, adapted or performed for the purpose of enabling or facilitating the circumvention of effective technoligical measures.
(4) Tasks and powers of the public authorities remain unaffected by the prohibitions of paragraphs 1 and 3 for the purpose of the protection of public security or the criminal jurisdiction.
§ 95b
Enforcement of Limitations
(1) As far as a rightholder uses technological measures in accordance with the condition of this law, he is obligated to make available the necessary means which enable the use covered by the following limitations to the beneficiaries of those limitations, if they have legal access to the protected work or subject-matter:
1. § 45 (administration of justice and public safety),
2. § 45a (people with disabilities),
3. § 46 (collections for religious, school or instructional use), with the exception of religious use,
4. § 47 (school broadcasts),
5. § 52a (making available for teaching and research),
6. § 53 (reproduction for private and other personal uses)
a) paragraph 1, as far as it concerns reproductions on paper or any similar medium effected by the use of any kind of photographic technique or by some other process having similar effects,
b) paragraph 2 sentence 1 no. 1, (personal academic use)
c) paragraph 2 sentence 1 no. 2 (archive) in connection with sentence 2 no. 1 (photocopy on paper) or 3 (no commercial or scientific purpose),
d) paragraph 2 sentence 1 no. 3 (personal information concerning current events, in the case of a broadcast work) and 4 (other personal uses in the case of small parts of published works or individual contributions that have been published in newspapers or periodicals or of a work that has been out of print for at least two years) in each case in connection with sentence 2 no. 1 (photocopy on paper) and sentence 3 (analog use),
e) paragraph 3 (reproduction in part of small parts of a work, small-sized works or single contributions, published in newspapers or magazines for use in education and exams)
7. § 55 (ephemeral reproduction by broadcasting organizations).
Contractual agreements concerning the exclusion of the obligations according to sentence 1 are null and void.
(2) Any person who violates the obligations of paragraph 1 can be compelled by the beneficiary of one of the mentioned limitations to make available the necessary means for the realization of the respective power. If the means offered correspond to an agreement between associations of right holders and of beneficiaries of the mentioned limitations, then it is assumed that the means are sufficient.
(3) Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not apply if works and other subject-matter are made available to the public on agreed contractual terms in such a way that members of the public may access them from a place and at a time individually chosen by them.
(4) Technological measures that are adapted for the fulfillment of the obligations of paragraph 1, including those applied in implementation of voluntary agreements, enjoy legal protection under § 95a.
§ 95d
Labeling Requirements
(1) Protected works and other subject matter protected by technological measures have to be labeled, in a clearly visible manner, with the properties of the applied technological measures.
(2) Any person who protects works or other subject-matter by technological measures has to label these with his name or firm name and address for service, in order to enable the assertion of claims according to § 95b (2). Sentence 1 does not apply to § 95b (3).
Section II
Infringements
Subsection 2
Criminal Law Provisions and Provisions Governing Administrative Offenses
§ 108b
Infringement of Technological Protection Measures and Rights-management Information
(1) Any Person who
1. circumvents, without the authorization of the rightholder, an effective technological measure with the intention to enable himself or someone else access to a work protected by this law or other subject matter protected by this law, or to enable its use,
2. [provision regarding rights-management information]
shall be liable to imprisonment for up to one years or a fine, unless the act is exclusively performed for or relating to the private use of the offender or for persons personally connected to the offender.
(2) Equally will be punished he, who contrary to § 95a paragraph 3, for commercial purposes manufactures, imports, distributes, sells or rents a device, a product or a component.
(3) If the offender of the provision of paragraph 1 acts professionally, then the punishment is imprisonment of up to three years or a fine.
§ 111a
Provisions Governing Administrative Offenses
(1) An administrative offense shall be deemed to be committed by any person, who
1. contrary to § 95a paragraph 3
a) sells, rents or distributes beyond the circle of the persons, personally connected to the offender, a device, a product or a component or
b) for commercial purposes posseses, advertizes for sale or rental a device, a product or a component, or provides a service
2. contrary to § 95b paragraph 1, sentence 1, does not make available a necessary means, or
3. contrary to § 95d paragraph 2, sentence 1, does not or not completely label works or subject matter.
(2) The administrative offense can, in case of paragraph 1, numbers 1 and 2, be punished with a fine of up to fifty thousand euro and, in the remaining cases, with a fine of up to ten thousand euro.
Injunctions Act of
§ 2a
Injunctive Relief According to the Copyright Act
(1) As against any person who violates § 95b paragraph 1 of the Copyright Act an action for injunctive relief requiring the wrongdoer to cease and desist can be brought.
(2) Paragraph 1 shall not apply if works and other subject-matter are made available to the public on agreed contractual terms in such a way that members of the public may access them from a place and at a time individually chosen by them.
§ 3a
Rightful Claimants
Entitled to obtain injunctive relief, as provided for in § 2a paragraph 1, are associations having legal capacity that non-professionally and not just temporarily promote the interests of the beneficiaries of § 95b paragraph 1, sentence 1 of the Copyright Act. The claim can only be assigned to associations according to sentence 1.
Translation by Menno Briët/Dr. Alexander Peukert
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