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Legal Issues: Copyright, etc.

When do legal considerations come into play?

When working with or publishing research data in research projects, the legal requirements and obligations must be clarified in advance. Determining which rights and laws apply generally requires a case-by-case assessment. It is best to familiarize yourself with the legal framework before beginning data collection. These issues must be resolved no later than when the research results are published. In addition, research ethics considerations may need to be addressed.

Who should I contact if I have legal questions?

We are happy to assist you to the best of our ability with any questions regarding personal data, as well as copyright, usage rights, and licenses. Please note that we cannot provide legal advice. If in doubt, please contact the Legal Office in Department 1.

If you have questions regarding the legal aspects of research data management, please first contact us at the following email address:

fdm[at]uni-hildesheim.de

Your questions regarding data protection will be forwarded to the Data Protection Officer at the University of Hildesheim.

Surveys conducted at schools in Lower Saxony generally require approval from the relevant Regional State Office for Schools and Education. The Center for Teacher Education and Educational Research (CeLeB) provides guidance on this matter.

When do I need to comply with data protection regulations?

The General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR), the Lower Saxony Data Protection Act (NDSG), and, where applicable, the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) must be observed whenever personal data or data that can be linked to an individual is processed, regardless of whether it was collected by the institution itself or is being reused. Before you are permitted to work with the data, a data protection plan must be submitted to the Data Protection Officer.

Further information on data protection can be found in the Data Protection section and from the Data Protection Officer at the University of Hildesheim.

Is my research data protected by copyright?

From a legal perspective, research data itself is rarely subject to copyright, as it often lacks the level of creativity required to be considered an intellectual creation or achievement. As a rule, it is not the result or the idea that is protected, but rather its presentation or form (enriched data) [See 1]. Quantitative data, such as raw measurement data, are generally considered facts and are therefore not eligible for protection (freedom of facts and information). A special case is data collections or databases, which may qualify for their own copyright protection (Section 87a UrhG). Caution is also advised regarding trade secrets, patents, or similar data [See 2].

[1] Linda Kuschel (2020) Copyright and Research Data. Ordnung der Wissenschaft 1, pp. 43–52. https://doi.org/10.17176/20200103-154726-0, p. 43

[2] Till Kreutzer & Henning Lahmann (2019) Rights to Research Data and Databases. https://irights.info/artikel/rechte-an-forschungsdaten-und-datenbanken/29587

Who owns research data?

Copyrights are not transferable in Germany; only the rights of exploitation are transferable (Section 15 of the German Copyright Act [UrhG]). If data is used on behalf of the University of Hildesheim, authorship may be governed by employment and service contracts. In some cases, the so-called university faculty privilege (Section 42 of the German Act on the Protection of Employees’ Inventions [ArbNErfG]) may apply.

Typically, the results of research conducted under the direction of another are the property of the person who commissioned them. The situation is different for independent research, where researchers may determine the use of their own data.

Particularly for research projects involving multiple participants from different institutions, we recommend that authorship and mutual exploitation rights—including the right to use and publish the results—be contractually agreed upon in advance.

Can I use other people's research data?

If the data is in the public domain or marked with CC0 or the Public Domain Mark (PDM), it may be used freely. In most cases, however, the license terms under which the data is made available must be observed. Exceptions to this include the right to quote (§ 51 UrhG), the educational exception (§ 60a UrhG), and the academic exception (§ 60c UrhG). If in doubt, you can contact the author directly.

Can I publish my research data?

Before publication, it must be determined whether the data is personal in nature, contains copyrighted material, or is subject to other rights. The (co-)authorship must also be clarified. For publication, we recommend choosing a free license, such as a Creative Commons license, to facilitate further use. The decision regarding publication and licensing rests with the (co-)authors (Section 12 of the German Copyright Act).

The Technical University of Dresden offers a decision-making guide to help determine whether research data may be published:

What licenses are available for my research data?

In general, open and standardized licenses should be used. For research data, Creative Commons (CC) is the preferred choice (selection of a CC license), particularly CC-BY. Metadata for research data should be marked with PDM or CC0. For software, the GNU General Public License (GPL) is widely used, and for databases, Open Data Commons (ODC) is common. If you wish to use other licenses, ensure that the terms of use are clearly defined.

https://forschungslizenzen.de/ provides an overview of licenses for research data.

You can select a license for data or software via https://ufal.github.io/public-license-selector/.

According to the GWP, research data should be published as openly as possible and as restricted as necessary. For the open access publication of research data, HilReDa is one option, for example.

Am I allowed to use text and data mining (TDM)?

When conducting text and/or data mining for research purposes (Section 60d of the German Copyright Act), you should take note of several guidelines, which are explained here, among other places:

What do I need to keep in mind when using artificial intelligence?

Additional regulations must be taken into account for research in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), including machine learning, large language models, and neural networks.

The University of Graz has compiled guidelines on the use of AI in research.

Further information is available from the AI Focus Group in Teaching and Learning at the University of Hildesheim.

Are there any other legal requirements?

In addition to data protection, copyright, rights of use, and licensing, there are other areas of law—such as patent law and database creator rights—that may need to be taken into account. An overview is available from Humboldt University of Berlin at https://www.cms.hu-berlin.de/de/dl/dataman/teilen/rechtliche-aspekte/ (as of February 14, 2022).

Where can I find more information? (Selected links)

Contact

If you have any questions, please contact us by email.