Right to quote or right of quotation or quotation right is one of the copyright exceptions provided by the Berne Convention, article 10: "It shall be permissible to make quotations ... provided that their making is compatible with fair practice, and their extent does not exceed that justified by the purpose."Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works With different language, it was already present in the 1908 revision of the treaty.«As regards the liberty of extracting portions from literary or artistic works [...] is not affected by the present Convention.» Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Berlin Act, 1908).
Implementation
National legislations usually embody the Berne Convention limits in one or more of the following requirements: the cited paragraphs are within a reasonable limit (varying from country to country), clearly marked as quotations and fully referenced, the resulting new work is not just a collection of quotations, but constitutes a fully original work in itself. In some countries the intended use of the work (educational, scientific, parodist, etc.) may also be a factor determining the scope of this right.
Europe
The right to quote is especially important in continental Europe copyright law, where it covers some of the practices known elsewhere as fair dealing. European jurisprudence is gradually extending the number of uses permitted under the right to quote, with some limits.
France In France, it is illegal to reproduce someone's work without their approval. But if the work is published, i.e. no longer being edited prior to release, small quotations are legal.
Germany In Germany, the right to quote is extended considerably for research purposes and may even encompass complete works (e. g. texts, pictures, music or videos).§ 51 UrhG German legislation on the Großzitat
Poland In Poland, the right to quote allows quotation of excerpts of works and small works as a whole, provided that this is justified by teaching, review, explanation or caricatural motivation. Such use can be also justified by polemic or critical analysis of the work. In order for the use to be lawful, the user has to mention the name and surname of the author and the source. Additionally, such use cannot interfere with the legitimate interests of the author and exceed the normal exploitation of the work being quoted. However, typically, the author of the work is not entitled to remuneration for quotation.
See also Fair dealing Fair use Quotation
References