Questions about licensing

Open licenses are standardised usage licenses based on the principle "certain rights reserved". They allow creators to easily determine which rights to their content they reserve and which they wish to grant to potential users. In the cultural and educational sectors, the Creative Commons licenses are most widely used.

The following Creative Commons license types are particularly suitable for OER:
• (CC Zero, Public Domain):
  Easy to use material. The authors have assigned all rights (as far as possible).
• (Attribution):
  Use material and provide information about the authors, license and any changes.The original author's name must be credited in the manner specified by the author.
• (Attribution - Share-Alike):
  In addition to the previous license: Content created from licensed materials must be placed with the same license as the original work.

Only some of the CC licenses are open licenses. Strictly speaking, these are the licenses marked in green in the picture. These are particularly suitable for OER and should be used with priority. Keep in mind that a ban on commercial use also means that an OER may not be used at private universities, for example.

Combined work by Shaddim CC BY 4.0

Jöran Muuß-Merholz for wb-web, edited by Michael Menzel. License: CC BY–SA 3.0

The answer to this question (German only) was compiled by Sebastian Horlacher, OERsax, license: CC–BY–SA3.0, and is available here.

The answer to this question (German only) was compiled by Sebastian Horlacher, OERsax, license: CC–BY–SA 3.0, and is available here.

Both concepts are closely linked. Open access is primarily about being able/permitted to read content, i.e. free (online) access to (scientific) publications and data. Unlike publishing in commercial publishers, anyone - and from anywhere in the world - can access the material without restrictions. Initially, only simple reading is permitted. Anyone who publishes Open Access agrees to this free access. However, they can also grant free licenses (e.g. Creative Commons); this allows the general public to use the work (duplicate, edit, etc.).
OER are also freely accessible – on one hand this is about teaching materials in particular, on the other hand the additional rights play a decisive role: OER explicitly invite you to change and reuse them. To do this, you must either be in the public domain (e.g. because copyright protection has expired) or the authors have given permission for the general public to edit them. Generally it is best to provide the work with a Creative Commons license. Of the seven variants of this license, only CC-0 (free use), CC-BY (use with attribution) and CC-BY-SA (use with attribution and share-alike) are suitable for this purpose, see also further questions. The other variants exclude commercial use and/or any modification, so that a creative examination of the material is not possible.
In summary: OER = Open Access + editing rights.

Unfortunately, no one is immune to misuse of material posted, whether under a free license or "with all rights reserved". However, if you publish your material under an open license on a reliable platform such as the central OER-repository for Baden-Württemberg, your original material is available for everyone to see. No later modification or usage can destroy your original. In addition, the author's moral rights must also be observed in the case of CC-licensed works, i.e., for example, you as the author can continue to take action against distortions of the work.

For license versions 3.0 and earlier there were ported versions of the CC licenses. These ported licenses are based on the international license, but are specially adapted to the respective law, e.g. in Germany.
The CC license 4.0, on the other hand, was not ported. Rather, it is a mix of the influences of different legal systems. It was merely translated into German. The aim of the CC licenses is for them to be valid worldwide and for all of the license provisions contained in them to be valid. Nevertheless, caution is advised here as well, since it is doubtful that a license can be valid worldwide.

The answer to this question was taken from Sebastian Horlacher and Sara Horvat. OERsax, License: CC–BY–SA 3.0

The answer (German only) to this question was compiled by Sebastian Horlacher, OERsax, License: CC–BY–SA 4.0.

Once granted, CC licenses are not revocable. However, the licensor can always refrain this CC license at any time. But this does not prevent works that have already been CC-licensed from being redistributed. [1]

[1] https://creativecommons.org/faq/#what-if-i-change-my-mind-about-using-a-cc-license (last access 28.11.2023).

The license texts for the CC licenses are available in version 4.0 at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/?lang=en

This depends on the specific licenses, but in general most CC licenses can be combined with each other, except for the NoDerivates licenses. The chart here provides information about the possible combinations. Also note the explanations there.

Yes, you are welcome to include screenshots of the website in your publication, in this case it is a so-called image quote. Please mark the pictures as follows:
"Source: ZOERR (www.oerbw.de) based on edu-sharing software (metaVentis GmbH)"
In HTML, it is advisable to include the relevant links:
"Source: <a href="https://www.oerbw.de">ZOERR</a> based on <a href="https://edu-sharing.com">edu-sharing</a> software (metaVentis GmbH)"

Materials published as OER with an open license such as Creative Commons can generally be used to their full extent in your teaching. With other materials, there are a few points to consider which are well summarised on this documentation page of a conference on the topic especially in the first presentation (in German).

If you create a tutorial or manual yourself and do not adopt it e.g. from the software manufacturer, you are the author of this tutorial or this manual. In this case, your work is the tutorial or manual and not the software itself.
However, screenshots of the software interface shown in the tutorial, can be problematic. These screenshots may contain copyrighted content (photos, text, the concept of the software, etc.).
However, the UrhRG allows you to use copyrighted content (in this case, for example, the content of the screenshots) in your own work (here: the tutorial or the instructions) if you quote it (§ 51UrhG). In order for it to be a quote, you should deal with the content of the screenshots in a concrete and dedicated manner and not just use them to illustrate or "embellish" the presentation. Thus, only screenshots whose content are actually dealt with in the context of the instructions or tutorial are to be used; sources and authors of the content of the screenshots are to be named.
The content that is marked with a CC license can be used within the framework of the tutorial or manual without any problems. Content protected by copyright can also be used in higher education.

When creating OER, you should be careful to avoid links to commercial resources and those that create obstacles (e.g. logins or barriers to access) as much as possible. Such resources contradict the idea of OER and drive the digital divide.

It is understandable that you do not want to share your OER so that others can derive financial benefit from it. Unfortunately, however, it is not always clear what exactly commercial use means, and there are strong arguments against such licensing. One of them is that educational stakeholders are not allowed to use your material in teaching once it is paid for. A more detailed consideration of the CC NC license can be found here (German only).

As with all other answers, we would like to emphasize once again that we cannot provide any legally binding information! These are carefully considered assessments.

In general, AI-generated output, especially images, can be used. But we recommend you only use a small amount of AI-generated material otherwise you might not be able to pass off the OER as your own work at a certain point (to be assessed by yourself). To be fair, the materials that originate from an AI should be declared accordingly. At least in Germany, no one can claim any rights to it for themselves. Currently in discussion is the extent to which material generated by AI can infringe copyright if the AI itself has used copyright-protected material to create it. Unfortunately and as an added complication this cannot be checked in any meaningful way at the moment.
Specifically with regard to ChatGPT, we summarise here the terms of use of OpenAI: You have the right to use the generated images for any purpose, including commercial purposes, provided that you comply with the terms and conditions. OpenAI assigns to you all rights, title and interest in the image material, therefore you are free to use the generated content as long as you ensure that you do not violate any applicable laws or violate the terms of use. Since OpenAI assigns you the rights to the generated image, you should be able to use the images under the CC-BY licence, provided that you comply with the terms of that licence, including appropriate attribution and compliance with all other requirements of the licence. However, it is advisable to consult a legal expert if you have specific questions about copyright licensing.