Questions about licensing

Open licenses are standardised usage licenses based on the "certain rights reserved" principle. They allow creators to easily determine which rights to their content they reserve and which they wish to grant to potential users. In the cultural and educational sectors, the Creative Commons licenses are most widespread.

The following Creative Commons license types are particularly suitable for OER:
• (CC Zero, Public Domain):
  Easy to use material. The authors have (as far as possible) assigned all rights.
• (Attribution:
  Use material and provide information on authors, license and any changes. The original author's name must be credited in the manner specified by the author.
• (Attribution - Share-Alike):
  In addition to the previous license: Content created from Materials so licensed must be placed under the same license as the original work.

Only some of the CC licenses are open licenses. In the narrower sense, these are only the licenses marked in green in the picture. These are particularly suitable for OER and should be used with priority. Keep in mind that a ban on commercial use also means that an OER may not be used at private universities, for example.

Combined work by Shaddim CC BY 4.0

Jöran Muuß-Merholz for wb-web, edited by Michael Menzel. License: CC BY–SA 3.0

The answer to this question (German only) was taken from Sebastian Horlacher, OERsax, License: CC–BY–SA 3.0

The answer to this question (German only) was taken from Sebastian Horlacher, OERsax, License: CC–BY–SA 3.0

Both concepts are closely linked. Open access is primarily about being able/permitted to read content, i.e. free (online) access to (scientific) publications and data. Unlike publishing in commercial publishers, anyone - and from anywhere in the world - can access the material without restrictions. Initially, only simple reading is permitted. Anyone who publishes Open Access agrees to this free access. However, he can also grant free licenses (e.g. Creative Commons); he thus allows the general public to use the work (duplicate, edit, etc.).
OER are also freely accessible – on the one hand this is about teaching material in particular, on the other hand the additional rights play a decisive role: OER expressly invite you to change and reuse them. To do this, they must either be in the public domain (e.g. because copyright protection has expired) or the authors have given permission for the general public to edit them. As a rule, they provide the work with a Creative Commons license. Of the seven variants of this license, only CC-0 (free use), CC-BY (use with attribution) and CC-BY-SA (use with attribution and share-alike) are suitable for this purpose, see also these questions. The other variants exclude commercial use and/or any modification, so that a creative examination of the material is not possible.
In summary, it can be said: OER = Open Access + editing rights.

Unfortunately, no one is immune to misuse of material posted, whether under a free license or with all rights reserved. However, if you publish your material under an open license on a reliable platform such as the central OER-repository for Baden-Württemberg, your original is available there for everyone to see. No later modification or use can destroy your original. In addition, the author's moral rights must also be observed in the case of CC-licensed works, i.e., for example, that you as the author can continue to take action against distortions of the work.

For license versions 3.0 and earlier there were ported versions of the CC licenses. These ported licenses are based on the international license, but are specially adapted to the respective law, e.g. in Germany.
The CC license 4.0, on the other hand, was not ported. Rather, it is a mix of the influences of different legal systems. It was only translated into German. The aim of the CC licenses is that they are valid worldwide and that all license provisions contained in them are valid. Nevertheless, caution is advised here as well, since it can be doubted that a license can be valid worldwide.

The answer to this question was taken from Sebastian Horlacher and Sara Horvat. OERsax, License: CC–BY–SA 3.0

The answer (German only) to this question was taken from Sebastian Horlacher. OERsax, License: CC–BY–SA 4.0

CC licenses, once granted, are not revocable. However, it is always possible for the licensor to refrain from making the work available under a CC license. However, this does not prevent CC-licensed works from being redistributed. [1]

[1] https://creativecommons.org/faq/#what-if-i-change-my-mind-about-using-a-cc-license (last access 23.3.2022).

The license texts for the CC licenses are available in version 4.0 at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/?lang=en

That depends on the specific licenses, but in principle most CC licenses can be combined with one another, except for the NoDerivates licenses. The table here provides information about the possible combinations. Also note the explanations there.

Yes, you are very welcome to use screenshots of the website in your publication, in this case it is a so-called image quote. Please mark the pictures as follows:
"Source: ZOERR (www.oerbw.de) based on edu-sharing software (metaVentis GmbH)"
In HTML, it is advisable to include the relevant links:
"Source: <a href="https://www.oerbw.de">ZOERR</a> based on <a href="https://edu-sharing.com">edu-sharing</a> software (metaVentis GmbH)"

Materials that have been published as OER under an open license such as Creative Commons can generally be used to their full extent in your teaching. With other materials, there are a few points to consider that are summarized very well on this ELAN e.V. page with video, also available with English subtitles).

If you create a tutorial or instructions yourself and do not take them over e.g. from the software manufacturer, you are the author of this tutorial or this manual. In this case, the work constitutes the tutorial or guide and not the software itself.
However, screenshots of the software interface, which are shown in the tutorial, can be problematic. These screenshots may contain copyrighted content (photos, text, the concept of the software, etc.).
However, the UrhRG allows you to use copyrighted content (here, for example, the content of the screenshots) in your own work (here: the tutorial or the instructions) if you quote it (§ 51UrhG). In order for it to be a quote, you should deal with the content of the screenshots in a concrete and dedicated manner and not just use them to illustrate or "embellish" the presentation. So only screenshots are to be used, the content of which is actually dealt with in the context of the instructions or tutorial, sources and authors of the content of the screenshots are to be named.
The content that is marked with a CC license can be used within the framework of the tutorial or guide without any problems. Content protected by copyright can also be used in higher education.

When creating OER, you should be careful to avoid links to commercial resources and those that create obstacles (e.g. logins or barriers to access) as much as possible. Such resources contradict the idea of OER and drive the digital divide.

It is understandable that you do not want to share your OER so that others can derive financial benefit from it. Unfortunately, however, it is not always clear what exactly commercial use means, and there are strong arguments against such licensing. One of them is that educational stakeholders are not allowed to use your material in teaching once it is paid for. A more detailed consideration of the CC NC license can be found here (German only).