The authors of works in the literary, scientific and artistic domain enjoy protection for their works in accordance with the German Act on Copyright and Related Rights (section 1 UrhG). Protected works include works of language, computer programmes and illustrations of a scientific or technical nature, such as drawings, plans, maps, sketches, tables and three-dimensional representations (section 2 UrhG). Bachelor’s and Master’s dissertations are scientific works and thus protected by the German Act on Copyright and Related Rights. It is not necessary to apply or register for copyright as you get copyright protection automatically.

In line with section 7 UrhG, the author is the creator of the work. Students are thus the authors of their own dissertations. They alone hold the rights outlined in the UrhG, such as the exclusive right to publication and exploitation of their dissertations.

Where several persons have jointly created a work, they are joint authors of the work (section 8 UrhG). The work may only be published and used with the consent of all joint authors. Joint authorship of dissertations is routinely precluded as university examination regulations require examination candidates to submit independent work (see section 59 Hamburg Higher Education Act (HmbHG)).

Supervisors do not gain copyright through the supervision of a student’s dissertation. This is also the case where the supervisor provides inspiration or ideas for the dissertation. Copyright does not protect ideas or concepts in their own right, but only the presentation of said ideas or concepts, whether in words, images or sound. The inclusion of third parties’ information and ideas in academic works is nonetheless still subject to the rules of good academic practice, meaning, among other things, that such content must be clearly referenced with sources cited.

Inventions are not protected by the German Act on Copyright and Related Rights (UrhG) but by the German Patent Act (PatG). Patents shall be granted for any inventions, in all fields of technology, provided that they are new, involve an inventive step and are susceptible of industrial application (section 1 PatG) The proprietor of the patent is entitled to refuse others use of the invention.

If several persons have jointly created an invention, the right to the patent shall belong to them jointly (section 6 PatG). A patentable invention that is made in the course of a dissertation thus belongs to the persons on whose ideas and intellectual abilities the invention is based. The (sole) copyright of the student therefore does not exclude that a supervisor, for example, is the (joint) inventor of the technical invention that was made in the course of the dissertation.

As dissertations are not written in the context of an employment relationship with the university, the university cannot claim inventions linked to dissertations as job-related inventions. See the German Act on Employees’ Inventions.

Authors and inventors can grant third parties the right to use their copyrighted works or grant them rights associated with their inventions, e.g. via a licence contract or sale of rights.

Students are not obligated to grant the university any rights. As such, making the supervision or correction of a dissertation dependent on the student granting such rights to the university is not permitted.

The TUHH has an interest in using content from selected dissertations with the author’s permission for research or teaching purposes, for example, during classes or when developing software. A template for granting rights of use has been made available for this purpose. The TUHH generally does not intend to make use of dissertation content for purposes other than research and teaching. The right to use the dissertation content for any other purposes remains with the author/s.

It is recommended that supervisors point examination candidates to this information sheet when supervision commences. The signed declaration of consent should be kept at the institute in which the dissertation was supervised.