23 The choice of words "similar rights" is based on a broad understanding that basically covers all absolutely exclusive legal constructs – including civil law register rights (trademarks, etc.) and even administrative law protection of antiquities/cultural property. This is because if only the related rights of the UrhG (German Copyright Act) were meant here (i.e. ancillary copyrights and sui generis database rights), the canonical term "related rights" would have had to be used here.
24 By choosing the word "similar", the scope of application was deliberately broadened, making it possible to include, for example, dedication-based exclusivity constructs in addition to civil law constructs.
25 This view is supported not least by the existence and successful use of the DL-DE. This is also dedication-based and does not function under civil law (cf. E. Öffentliche Hand Rn. 30), which does not seem to bother government agencies in particular; on the contrary, they often postulate the compatibility of the DL-DE with common open data licences, even though these are two separate legal regimes: civil law for CCPL, ODbL, ODC, etc., and administrative law for the DL-DE and ancient legal permissions.
26 However, patent and trademark rights are expressly not covered by the licence granted under Section 2 as "similar rights", as Section 2.b.2 expressly clarifies. However, this only refers to the specific scope of protection of these rights – in the case of trademark law, for example, trademark use.
Creative Commons License
Open Access Kommentar, Commentary on Section 1.c./b./d. Copyright and similar rights is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
