In short. A rights holder can reserve uses covered by DSM Directive Article 4 through an express, appropriate reservation, with machine-readable means for public online content.
Definition: Under Article 4 of the EU Digital Single Market Copyright Directive, a rights holder can exclude expressly reserved uses from the text and data mining exception if the reservation takes an appropriate form. Text and data mining means automated analysis of digital text and data to generate information.
Key facts
- Article 4(3) requires an express reservation by the rights holder in an appropriate manner.
- Recital 18 specifies machine-readable means for content made publicly available online, including metadata and website or service terms and conditions.
- Germany's Copyright Act, Section 44b(3) makes a reservation for online-accessible works effective only when expressed in machine-readable form.
- The TDM Reservation Protocol report defines technical reservation signals. Its published status is a Final Community Group Report dated 10 May 2024, outside the W3C Standards Track.
What does Article 4 require from the miner?
As of 17 October 2026, Directive (EU) 2019/790, Article 4(1) requires Member States to provide an exception or limitation for reproductions and extractions of lawfully accessible material for text and data mining. The Directive's recital 18 explains its relevance to private-sector uses, including business decisions and developing applications.
Lawful access and a reservation are separate conditions. Recital 18 expressly includes material made available to the public online among material that can be accessed lawfully. Public availability therefore remains compatible with a reservation of mining rights: access alone leaves the reservation condition to be checked.
Article 4(2) also limits how long reproductions and extractions made under the exception may be retained: only as long as necessary for the mining purposes.
What makes a reservation appropriate?
The rights holder must expressly reserve the relevant use under Article 4(3). Recital 18 explains how the form depends on the material's availability. For publicly available online content, it specifies machine-readable means, including metadata and terms and conditions. In other cases, it identifies contractual agreements and unilateral declarations as possible forms.
National legislation supplies the implementing rules. For example, Germany's Section 44b(2) and (3) permits reproduction of lawfully accessible works subject to the rights holder's reservation, and expressly requires machine readability for reservations covering online-accessible works.
Recital 18 also preserves the possibility of licensing uses outside the mandatory scientific-research exception and other existing exceptions. An express reservation can therefore coexist with a licence offered by the rights holder.
What can a website publish?
The TDM Reservation Protocol defines tdm-reservation as a property whose value 1 indicates reserved mining rights. Its HTTP response header technique supplies a concrete signal:
tdm-reservation: 1
The report places this header in responses to GET or HEAD requests. It also defines an optional tdm-policy property pointing to a policy through which a miner can obtain information about authorisation. These are mechanisms specified by the Community Group report; their use remains subject to the applicable legal requirements for an effective reservation.
Related terms
- Lawful access for text and data mining
- Research text and data mining exception
- Text and data mining opt-out (EU)
- TDM Reservation Protocol
- TDM-Reservation header
FAQ
Can I remove the scientific-research exception with a reservation?
Article 4(4) of the Directive preserves Article 3. That separate exception covers mining by research organisations and cultural heritage institutions for scientific research, with lawful access to the material.
Can I reserve mining rights while keeping a page public?
Yes. Recital 18 expressly addresses reservations for publicly available online content and specifies machine-readable means. The reservation concerns reproductions and extractions for mining; the recital says other uses should remain unaffected.
Sources
- European Parliament and Council, "Directive (EU) 2019/790", 17 April 2019
- European Parliament and Council, "Directive (EU) 2019/790, Article 4", 17 April 2019
- European Parliament and Council, "Directive (EU) 2019/790, recitals", 17 April 2019
- Federal Ministry of Justice and Federal Office of Justice, "Urheberrechtsgesetz, Section 44b", current text consulted 17 October 2026
- W3C Text and Data Mining Reservation Protocol Community Group, "TDM Reservation Protocol (TDMRep)", 10 May 2024
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