Academics who want to publish their works in open access are often unsure whether this is possible despite an existing contract with VG Wort. This contract transfers exclusive rights of use to the collecting society, while open access enables the free accessibility and reuse of academic works, often through Creative Commons licences. To dispel these uncertainties, Berlin Universities Publishing (BerlinUP) has published a handout (in German) explaining the compatibility of open access publications with a VG Wort licence agreement.
Practical solutions despite legal conflicts
Theoretically, there is a legal conflict, as exclusive rights can only be granted once. However, the handout shows that no significant problems arise in practice. Authors can also register their open access publications with VG Wort and participate in the distribution procedure, as statutory remuneration claims for scientific texts exist regardless of the licence. Authors who wish to avoid legal uncertainties also have the option of excluding certain rights from the contract with VG Wort or cancelling rights that have already been transferred. The licence agreement can be amended at any time so that future works can also be published flexibly.
Further information
- The link to the handout Open Access und die VG Wort - Sind Open-Access-Publikationen mit dem Wahrnehmungsvertrag der VG Wort kompatibel? can be found here: https://www.berlin-universities-publishing.de/beratung/handreichungen/vg-wort/
- You can download the handout in PDF format here (in German): https://www.berlin-universities-publishing.de/_media/policies/Handreichung_VG-Wort.pdf