In short. Germany's Section 87g excludes individual words and very short press extracts from the publisher's right, subject to limits and separate authors' rights.
Definition: As of 17 October 2026, Section 87g(2), point 4 of Germany's Copyright Act excludes the use of individual words or very short extracts from a press publication from the press publisher's related right. Authors' rights in the material remain intact under Article 15(2) of the EU copyright directive.
Key facts
- Section 87g(2) of the Copyright Act excludes facts, private or non-commercial uses by individual users, hyperlinking, and individual words or very short extracts from the publisher's rights.
- Recital 58 of Directive (EU) 2019/790 requires interpretation of the very-short-extract exclusion to preserve the effectiveness of those rights, taking account of large-scale aggregation.
- Section 87h(2) prevents publishers from using their right to prohibit authorised third-party uses of material included under a non-exclusive licence, or uses of material whose protection has expired.
What publication and right are covered?
A press publication is a collection consisting mainly of journalistic written works. Section 87f(1) requires it to form an item within a periodical or regularly updated publication under a single title, inform the public about news or other topics, and appear under a publisher's editorial responsibility and control. The provision names newspapers and magazines as examples and excludes periodicals published for scientific or academic purposes.
The publisher's related right is the separate protection granted to the publisher of that collection. Section 87g(1) covers reproduction and making available to the public, in full or in part, for online use by providers of information society services, the service category referenced in Section 87f(3). The exclusions in subsection (2) delimit that right.
How short must an extract be?
Section 87g(2), point 4 supplies no numerical word or character threshold for a very short extract. The corresponding exclusion appears in Article 15(1) of Directive (EU) 2019/790.
Recital 58 explains the balance: parts of press publications have economic relevance, while individual words and very short extracts fall outside the publisher's right. It then directs interpretation to preserve the right's effectiveness in light of the massive aggregation and use of press publications by service providers. Read together, these provisions require assessment of the excerpt and its use; a chosen snippet length alone supplies no statutory permission.
What happens to the author's copyright?
Article 15(2) expressly preserves authors' and other rightholders' rights in material incorporated into a press publication. An exclusion from the publisher's right therefore leaves the copyright assessment of the copied material in place.
In Germany, Section 87h(1) also prevents the publisher's right from being asserted to the detriment of the author or related rightholder. Its following subsection protects authorised third-party uses of non-exclusively licensed material and uses of material whose protection has expired.
When can the quotation exception apply?
A quotation has its own statutory conditions. Section 51 permits reproduction, distribution and communication to the public of a published work for quotation purposes, to the extent justified by the particular purpose. One statutory example is a passage quoted in an independent written work.
Section 87i applies the Copyright Act's limitations accordingly to the publisher's right. For public communication under the quotation exception, Section 63(2), in the official English translation, requires identification of the source, including the author's name, unless this is impossible. Quotation purpose and justified extent remain part of the assessment even where a source link is supplied.
Related terms
FAQ
Does linking to an article also permit copying its text?
Section 87g(2) treats hyperlinking and the use of individual words or very short extracts as separate exclusions. If you reproduce text alongside a link, that reproduction needs its own assessment under the relevant rights and exceptions.
Is the very-short-extract exclusion limited to private users?
Section 87g(2), point 4 contains no private-use or non-commercial condition. The exclusion for private or non-commercial uses by individual users appears separately in point 2.
Sources
- Gesetze im Internet, "UrhG Section 87g: Rechte des Presseverlegers", undated
- European Parliament and Council, "Directive (EU) 2019/790", 17 April 2019
- Gesetze im Internet, "UrhG Section 87f: Begriffsbestimmungen", undated
- Gesetze im Internet, "UrhG Section 87h: Ausübung der Rechte des Presseverlegers", undated
- Gesetze im Internet, "UrhG Section 51: Zitate", undated
- Gesetze im Internet, "UrhG Section 87i: Vermutung der Rechtsinhaberschaft; gesetzlich erlaubte Nutzungen", undated
- Gesetze im Internet, "Act on Copyright and Related Rights, English translation", undated
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