Right to Quote

Under Article 15a of the Copyright Act, citing work is not considered copyright infringement, provided certain conditions are met.

Conditions

  • First of all, the work quoted from must be lawfully disclosed;
  • The quote must have a clear purpose;
  • No more may be taken over than strictly necessary; and
  • If possible, the source should be identified.

Goals

The law lists the following purposes that justify a quote: announcement, rating, controversy, or scientific treatise. It also indicates that goals comparable to this justify citing, provided that the conditions are of course met.

Citation

In addition to citing the text, it is also permitted to quote by means of images (image quote) and by means of sound (sound quote).

Plagiarism

If a quotation is made without these conditions being met, this is called plagiarism.

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