In Germany, the copyright to standards is no longer questioned

摘要

On 13 September 2003, a new German copyright law came into force. The amendment, to transpose the European Copyright Directive to German law, was largely the result of implementing the European Copyright Directive 2001/29/EC on the harmonization of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society. The resulting gain was that for a private non-profit-making association such as the DIN Deutsches Institut fur Normung, this means that the copyright to standards now has a secure legal basis. In Germany, the copyright to standards is no longer questioned. In the past, numerous decisions in court took it for granted that standards, being the results of standardization work for public benefit, were copyrighted. However, a judgement passed by the Bundesgerichtshof, the German Federal High Court of Justice, decided otherwise in one case. According to this judgement, when public authorities referred officially to standards in laws and regulations - with the permission of DIN - and where such a reference could be interpreted as a declaration of intent (the content of the standard was meant to express the public authority's will), standards would lose their copyright protection according to clause 5 of the German Copyright Act which states that official publications are excluded from its scope.