{"id":14407,"date":"2026-02-09T08:48:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T07:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/blog\/citing-correctly-in-teaching-citation-rights-explained-in-an-understandable-waymusic-in-musical-works\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T08:05:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T07:05:14","slug":"citing-correctly-in-teaching-citation-rights-explained-in-an-understandable-waymusic-in-musical-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/blog\/citing-correctly-in-teaching-citation-rights-explained-in-an-understandable-waymusic-in-musical-works\/","title":{"rendered":"Citing correctly in teaching: Citation rights explained in an understandable wayMusic in musical works"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The right to quote under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gesetze-im-internet.de\/urhg\/__51.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Sec\u00adtion 51 of the Ger\u00adman Copy\u00adright Act (UrhG)<\/a> also opens up many pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adties for use in uni\u00adver\u00adsity teaching\u2014provided that the mate\u00adr\u00adial is actu\u00adally quoted and not merely \u201creused.\u201d The deci\u00adsive fac\u00adtors are a clear pur\u00adpose for the quo\u00adta\u00adtion, a scope appro\u00adpri\u00adate to the pur\u00adpose, a com\u00adplete source ref\u00ader\u00adence, and a vis\u00adi\u00adble sep\u00ada\u00adra\u00adtion between one\u2019s own work and bor\u00adrowed works, espe\u00adcially if the mate\u00adri\u00adals are later pub\u00adlished under CC licenses as Open Edu\u00adca\u00adtional Resources (OER). In the blog post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/blog\/citing-individual-formats-what-should-be-considered-for-texts-images-and-ai\/\">Quot\u00ading indi\u00advid\u00adual for\u00admats \u2013 what to con\u00adsider for texts, images, and AI<\/a>, we pro\u00advide a few exam\u00adples of how to quote indi\u00advid\u00adual types of works cor\u00adrectly.  <\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Core principles of the right to quote (Section 51 UrhG)<\/h2>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gesetze-im-internet.de\/urhg\/__51.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Sec\u00adtion 51<\/a> of the Ger\u00adman Copy\u00adright Act (UrhG) per\u00admits the use of pub\u00adlished third-party works for the pur\u00adpose of quo\u00adta\u00adtion if cer\u00adtain con\u00addi\u00adtions are met:<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Own work<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p>The quo\u00adta\u00adtion must be embed\u00added in your own work (e.g., lec\u00adture slides, lec\u00adture notes, aca\u00add\u00ade\u00admic text, edu\u00adca\u00adtional video, etc.). A work does not con\u00adsti\u00adtute an \u201corig\u00adi\u00adnal work\u201d in the copy\u00adright sense if its design is so sim\u00adple or stan\u00addard\u00adized that no per\u00adsonal intel\u00adlec\u00adtual cre\u00adation is rec\u00adog\u00adniz\u00adable. Some typ\u00adi\u00adcal exam\u00adples include purely func\u00adtional texts, very sim\u00adple prod\u00aduct or course descrip\u00adtions, stan\u00addard oper\u00adat\u00ading instruc\u00adtions, form texts, every\u00adday emails with\u00adout indi\u00advid\u00adual design, sim\u00adple tables, or sim\u00adple overview lists.  <\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Purpose of quotation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p>The pur\u00adpose of the quo\u00adta\u00adtion requires a rec\u00adog\u00adniz\u00adable inter\u00adnal con\u00adnec\u00adtion between the exter\u00adnal work and your own pre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtion. The quoted work must serve as evi\u00addence, exam\u00adple, or sub\u00adject of a sub\u00adstan\u00adtive dis\u00adcus\u00adsion (e.g., analy\u00adsis, crit\u00adi\u00adcism, com\u00adpar\u00adi\u00adson, inter\u00adpre\u00adta\u00adtion).  <\/p>\n\n<p>A per\u00admis\u00adsi\u00adble quo\u00adta\u00adtion does not exist if third-party con\u00adtent is used merely for dec\u00ado\u00adra\u00adtive pur\u00adposes or as filler, such as a the\u00admat\u00adi\u00adcally appro\u00adpri\u00adate image with\u00adout fur\u00adther dis\u00adcus\u00adsion or the inser\u00adtion of back\u00adground music with\u00adout analysis\u2014this is mere use, not evi\u00addence. <\/p>\n\n<p>The dis\u00adcus\u00adsion must be vis\u00adi\u00adble in the original\/newly cre\u00adated medium itself: it is not suf\u00adfi\u00adcient for a work to be com\u00admented on only in an oral pre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtion, while the slides pub\u00adlished later show the quo\u00adta\u00adtion but do not con\u00adtain any writ\u00adten analy\u00adsis or clas\u00adsi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion of their own. In this case, a per\u00admis\u00adsi\u00adble quo\u00adta\u00adtion is only present in the oral dis\u00adcus\u00adsion of the quoted work dur\u00ading the pre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtion, but not in the lec\u00adture slides pub\u00adlished later, in which no pur\u00adpose for the quo\u00adta\u00adtion is appar\u00adent.  <\/p>\n\n<p>Fur\u00adther\u00admore, tasks relat\u00ading to exter\u00adnal works (\u201cDescribe the image,\u201d \u201cAna\u00adlyze the text excerpt\u201d) are not cov\u00adered by the pur\u00adpose of quo\u00adta\u00adtion because they \u201cwork with the work\u201d didac\u00adti\u00adcally with\u00adout being a work in their own right that eval\u00adu\u00adates or dis\u00adcusses the con\u00adtent of the exter\u00adnal work\u2014the stu\u00addents are sup\u00adposed to ana\u00adlyze that first.<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Principle of economy<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p>The prin\u00adci\u00adple of econ\u00adomy means that only that part of a third-party work may be repro\u00adduced which is truly nec\u00ades\u00adsary for the spe\u00adcific pur\u00adpose of the quo\u00adta\u00adtion. In prac\u00adtice, this means that, as a rule, excerpts\u2014such as indi\u00advid\u00adual pas\u00adsages from a text, short sequences from a film, or lim\u00adited image excerpts\u2014are suf\u00adfi\u00adcient, as long as they can be used to com\u00adpre\u00adhen\u00adsi\u00adbly sub\u00adstan\u00adti\u00adate one\u2019s own argu\u00admen\u00adta\u00adtion, analy\u00adsis, or crit\u00adi\u00adcism. The com\u00adplete repro\u00adduc\u00adtion of an entire work is only per\u00admis\u00adsi\u00adble in very lim\u00adited excep\u00adtional cases, in par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar in the con\u00adtext of exten\u00adsive sci\u00aden\u00adtific quo\u00adta\u00adtions pur\u00adsuant to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gesetze-im-internet.de\/urhg\/__51.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Sec\u00adtion 51 sen\u00adtence 2 no. 1 UrhG<\/a>. A large quo\u00adta\u00adtion can only be con\u00adsid\u00adered if the entire work itself is the sub\u00adject of an in-depth sci\u00aden\u00adtific dis\u00adcus\u00adsion and the com\u00adplete repro\u00adduc\u00adtion is nec\u00ades\u00adsary for this analy\u00adsis \u2013 for exam\u00adple, when dis\u00adcussing a sin\u00adgle poem, a car\u00adi\u00adca\u00adture, or a short video that is inter\u00adpreted in detail. In all other cases, the quo\u00adta\u00adtion must be lim\u00adited to what is \u201cnec\u00ades\u00adsary\u201d and must not become a free sub\u00adsti\u00adtute for the orig\u00adi\u00adnal work.    <\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Source reference<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p>Accord\u00ading to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gesetze-im-internet.de\/urhg\/__63.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Sec\u00adtion 63 of the Ger\u00adman Copy\u00adright Act (UrhG)<\/a>, every quo\u00adta\u00adtion must be accom\u00adpa\u00adnied by a clear and com\u00adplete source ref\u00ader\u00adence; what con\u00adsti\u00adtutes \u201ccom\u00adplete\u201d depends on the type of work. The aim is always to clearly iden\u00adtify the author and to spec\u00adify the source so pre\u00adcisely that the work can be found with\u00adout dif\u00adfi\u00adculty.  <\/p>\n\n<p>Gen\u00aderal min\u00adi\u00admum require\u00adments:<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Name of the author (usu\u00adally first and last name)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Title of the work<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Spe\u00adcific reference\/source (e.g., book page, edi\u00adtion, URL).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The processing prohibition applies in principle.<\/h2>\n\n<p>When quot\u00ading, there is a gen\u00aderal pro\u00adhi\u00adbi\u00adtion on edit\u00ading<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gesetze-im-internet.de\/urhg\/__62.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Sec\u00adtion 62(1) of the Ger\u00adman Copy\u00adright Act (UrhG) <\/a>The quoted work may not be altered in gen\u00aderal. Any dis\u00adtor\u00adtion that impairs the moral inter\u00adests of the author is pro\u00adhib\u00adited under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gesetze-im-internet.de\/urhg\/__14.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Sec\u00adtion 14 of the Ger\u00adman Copy\u00adright Act (UrhG)<\/a>. At the same time, the right to quote allows cer\u00adtain inter\u00adven\u00adtions that are jus\u00adti\u00adfied by the pur\u00adpose of the quo\u00adta\u00adtion.<br>\u201cTech\u00adni\u00adcal\u201d or func\u00adtional adjust\u00adments are unprob\u00adlem\u00adatic if they serve the pur\u00adpose of the quo\u00adta\u00adtion and do not dis\u00adtort its mean\u00ading:  <\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Abbre\u00advi\u00ada\u00adtions with ellip\u00adsis marks, if it is clearly rec\u00adog\u00adniz\u00adable that the text has been abbre\u00advi\u00adated and the mean\u00ading is not dis\u00adtorted.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Empha\u00adsis (bold type, under\u00adlin\u00ading, high\u00adlight\u00ading, cir\u00adcling \u2013 also with H5P), if indi\u00adcated, e.g., \u201cEmpha\u00adsis added by the author.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Change in the form of quo\u00adta\u00adtion, e.g., from a direct quo\u00adta\u00adtion in the run\u00adning text to a block quo\u00adta\u00adtion or from direct speech to indi\u00adrect speech, as long as the con\u00adtent and mean\u00ading are not dis\u00adtorted.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>tech\u00adnis\u00adche Anpas\u00adsun\u00adgen beim Medi\u00aden\u00adwech\u00adsel etwa ein Foto eines Gem\u00e4ldes im Rah\u00admen eines Bildz\u00adi\u00adtats oder die ger\u00adingf\u00fcgige Verkleinerung eines Bildes zur Ein\u00adbindung in ein Lay\u00adout<br><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><strong>How\u00adever, pro\u00adcess\u00ading that goes beyond the above-men\u00adtioned pur\u00adpose-related adjust\u00adments is not per\u00admit\u00adted:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Mean\u00ading-alter\u00ading \u201crephras\u00ading\u201d of a quote that attrib\u00adutes state\u00adments to the author that were not actu\u00adally made<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Col\u00adlages, mon\u00adtages, or sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant graphic alter\u00adations of an image, if the orig\u00adi\u00adnal is still rec\u00adog\u00adniz\u00adable and is thereby rein\u00adter\u00adpreted in terms of con\u00adtent or depicted in a degrad\u00ading man\u00adner (in which case the alter\u00adation requires con\u00adsent)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>stilis\u00adtis\u00adche \u00dcber\u00adar\u00adbeitung eines Tex\u00adtauss\u00adchnitts, sodass nicht mehr klar ist, was Orig\u00adi\u00adnal und was Kom\u00admen\u00adtar ist<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Free use or editing? The decisive factor is the recognizability of the original. <\/h2>\n\n<p>If the exter\u00adnal work serves only as inspi\u00adra\u00adtion and the result is an inde\u00adpen\u00addent work that clearly dif\u00adfers from the orig\u00adi\u00adnal (i.e., the orig\u00adi\u00adnal is no longer rec\u00adog\u00adniz\u00adable in the new work), this is referred to as free use (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gesetze-im-internet.de\/urhg\/__23.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Sec\u00adtion 23 UrhG<\/a>); in this case, the right to quote no longer applies, but rather a sep\u00ada\u00adrate copy\u00adright to the new work.<\/p>\n\n<p>As long as the orig\u00adi\u00adnal work is still clearly rec\u00adog\u00adniz\u00adable, it is treated as an adap\u00adta\u00adtion or trans\u00adfor\u00adma\u00adtion under copy\u00adright law; its pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtion is not per\u00admit\u00adted with\u00adout con\u00adsent, unless an excep\u00adtion (e.g., right to quote, parody\/pastiche) applies.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n<p>The right to quote under Sec\u00adtion 51 of the Ger\u00adman Copy\u00adright Act (UrhG) is a pow\u00ader\u00adful but delib\u00ader\u00adately nar\u00adrowly defined tool for uni\u00adver\u00adsity teach\u00ading: it allows pro\u00adtected texts, images, music, and films to be used with\u00adout hav\u00ading to obtain a license for each piece of content\u2014but only if they are actu\u00adally quoted and not sim\u00adply \u201creused.\u201d It there\u00adfore remains cru\u00adcial that the pur\u00adpose of the quo\u00adta\u00adtion is clearly rec\u00adog\u00adniz\u00adable, that the scope is cho\u00adsen spar\u00adingly, that sources are fully cited, and that the author\u2019s own work clearly out\u00adweighs the quoted mate\u00adr\u00adial.  <\/p>\n\n<p>It is also impor\u00adtant that the source ref\u00ader\u00adence is clearly placed\u2014for exam\u00adple, directly on the image\/video, in a cap\u00adtion, or in an eas\u00adily iden\u00adti\u00adfi\u00adable list of sources\u2014so that the author and source are read\u00adily iden\u00adti\u00adfi\u00adable. <\/p>\n\n<p>With OER, it is also impor\u00adtant to visu\u00adally dis\u00adtin\u00adguish the quo\u00adta\u00adtion from the rest of the text and <strong>to explic\u00aditly exclude quo\u00adta\u00adtions from the CC license in the license notice<\/strong>, as Sec\u00adtion 51 of the Ger\u00adman Copy\u00adright Act (UrhG) only per\u00admits use within the scope of the quo\u00adta\u00adtion, but not co-licens\u00ading of the quoted work. With\u00adout this notice, the impres\u00adsion could be cre\u00adated that the quoted work itself is sub\u00adject to the selected CC license. <\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Exam\u00adple:<br>XY is licensed under CC-BY, unless oth\u00ader\u00adwise indi\u00adcated \/ sec\u00adtions \/ graph\u00adics, etc. that are marked dif\u00adfer\u00adently are excluded.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Ulti\u00admately, this means the fol\u00adlow\u00ading for OER: quo\u00adta\u00adtions are wel\u00adcome, but they remain legally third-party mate\u00adr\u00adial that is used under Sec\u00adtion 51 of the Ger\u00adman Copy\u00adright Act (UrhG) and must there\u00adfore be expressly excluded from the CC license in the license notice. Those who observe these divid\u00ading lines can work with third-party works in a legally com\u00adpli\u00adant manner\u2014in courses, in sci\u00aden\u00adtific (open access) pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtions, and when pub\u00adlish\u00ading open edu\u00adca\u00adtional resources (OER). <\/p>\n\n<p><strong>More infor\u00adma\u00adtion<\/strong> is avail\u00adable in our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/helpcenter\/?_de-helpcenter-suche=zitat&amp;_kategorie=grundlagen-von-oer\">Help Cen\u00adter<\/a>. In addi\u00adtion, the twillo team is avail\u00adable <a href=\"mailto:info@twillo.de\">by email<\/a> or every Thurs\u00adday dur\u00ading <a href=\"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/event\/twillo-thursday\/\">twillo-Thurs\u00adday<\/a> to answer any ques\u00adtions you may have about copy\u00adright, AI, and OER. <\/p>\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The right to quote under Sec\u00adtion 51 of the Ger\u00adman Copy\u00adright Act (UrhG) also opens up many pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adties for use in uni\u00adver\u00adsity teaching\u2014provided that the mate\u00adr\u00adial is actu\u00adally quoted and not merely \u201creused.\u201d The deci\u00adsive fac\u00adtors are a clear pur\u00adpose for the quo\u00adta\u00adtion, a scope appro\u00adpri\u00adate to the pur\u00adpose, a com\u00adplete source ref\u00ader\u00adence, and a [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":14255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[179],"class_list":["post-14407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-issues","tag-twillo"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14407"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14411,"href":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14407\/revisions\/14411"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}