Information on copyright

By registering with card2brain, you have agreed to respect the copyright and related rights of third parties. Because the law is not easy to understand, we have compiled the most important principles for you.

Important

The question of copyright infringement only arises when you distribute your flashcards, specifically when you create or copy public flashcards and share private flashcards with others. As long as you create private flashcards that only you study, you cannot infringe any copyrights.

As a teacher, pupil, student or lecturer, you have copyright privileges. Under certain conditions, you may also redistribute copyright-protected content such as images or graphics without the consent of the copyright holder. See also the section below "What copyright restrictions apply in schools and universities?"

The following guidelines do not claim to be exhaustive and are intended merely as a guide.

You are responsible ensuring that you do not infringe copyright. We take no responsibility or liability for any loss or damage resulting from copyright infringement. In case of doubt, we recommend that you consult further legal literature or legal experts.

When do I not infringe the rights of third parties?

You make your flashcards private so that they are only visible to you.

You make verbatim quotations from copyrighted texts visible as such and name your source. You can find out how to cite correctly here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation

You keep citations to a minimum and write your flashcards mainly in your own words.

You upload images, audios, graphics, diagrams, etc. that you have created yourself.

You do not upload any images of clearly identifiable persons without obtaining their written consent.

You upload images, audio, graphics, diagrams, etc. from platforms such as Wikipedia or Pixabay and provide the appropriate Creative Commons license and the corresponding image URL.

You are uploading unprotected, public domain content. See also the section below "What content is not protected by copyright?"

What content is protected by copyright?

Images, audios, texts, graphics, diagrams and the like are protected if they reach the level of a work. The concept of "work" presupposes a personal intellectual achievement, an achievement with an individual character that stands out from the everyday, commonplace or usually produced.

A work is protected by copyright as soon as it is created. Even if no indications such as "copyright", "all rights reserved" or a © are attached, you are better off assuming that copyright protection exists.

What copyright restrictions apply in schools and universities?

Content that does not reach the level of a work. In the world of flashcards, this includes, for example, foreign language vocabulary as it is used in everyday life. Beware: Although the vocabulary itself is not affected by copyright, a specific collection of it could be classified as copyrightable by case law due to its selection, arrangement and classification.

Scientific findings. Beware: Although scientific findings per se are not affected by copyright, their specific presentation is subject to copyright protection. Therefore, you may only quote scientific works in extracts at most.

Content that has been released 100% into the public domain under a CC0 license. CC stands for the "Creative Commons" license system and 0 means that the creator waives all rights. See also the section below "What are Creative Commons licenses?"

Works whose creators died more than 70 years ago.

Official works such as legal texts, court rulings or regulations issued by authorities.

Limitations on copyright in an educational environment

Students and teachers at (higher) education institutions are privileged under copyright law. They are permitted to distribute copyright-protected content without consent...

if only parts of works are used,

the use relates to teaching,

and the circle of addressees is limited to the students and teachers involved.

Specifically, this means for example that you are not infringing any copyrights if you, as a student or teacher, upload an image from a copyright-protected school book to a private set of flashcards that you share with your class.

What is the right to one's own image?

The right to one's own image is a protective right related to copyright law that prohibits you from publishing or distributing images of clearly identifiable persons without their consent. There are some exceptions to the right to one's own image. However, if you stick to the basic rule, you will always be on the safe side.

What are Creative Commons licenses?

On Wikipedia, for example, you will find many freely usable images that are published under a Creative Commons license.

The Creative Commons licenses indicated formulate the conditions under which you may use these images.

Provided that you adhere to the conditions of the respective license when using the image, you can select the appropriate CC license in the flashcard editor for correct use on the uploaded image and enter the image URL as the source.

You can reference the CC0 license, but you don't have to because the author does not impose any conditions here and waives all rights (=100% public domain).