Licence and Terms of Use
These terms govern the scope of the rights of use in image files from the AURIS Archive (auris-archiv.com), a service of AURIS MEDIA Verlag GmbH, Brehmstr. 8, 42897 Remscheid, Germany (“AURIS”). They apply in addition to the General Terms and Conditions and the Notes on handling historically sensitive material. In case of doubt, the German version prevails.
§ 1 Subject matter
(1) These terms define what the customer may do with files obtained from the archive. They form part of the contract.
(2) AURIS grants rights of use in the digitised images and, to the extent AURIS holds them, in the works depicted. For public-domain photographs the licence is based on the provision and cataloguing of the digitised image, not on any continuing copyright in the work depicted.
§ 2 Types of licence
AURIS distinguishes two licences:
A · Archive licence — included in trial access, Basic, Pro and Institution.
B · Publication licence — to be acquired separately, required for every form of publication.
§ 3 Archive licence
(1) The customer receives a simple, non-exclusive, non-transferable and non-sublicensable right to
a) store the files obtained and reproduce them for their own purposes,
b) use them privately,
c) use them for academic work, research and teaching, including use in seminars, lectures, examination papers and internal research materials, provided this takes place within a closed learning group, learning platform or institution. The publication of a thesis or qualification paper (publisher, repository, website) is a publication within the meaning of paragraph 3.
Any other use, in particular commercial or professional use, requires a publication licence under § 4. Mere research and viewing of images is free.
(2) The right is unlimited in time and territory and continues after the end of a subscription for the files obtained up to that point.
(3) The archive licence does not cover any publication. Publication includes in particular use in books, newspapers, magazines, brochures, exhibitions, film, broadcasting, on websites, in social networks, in presentations to a non-restricted audience, and any advertising or other commercial use.
(4) For institutional licences, the archive licence applies to the institution named in the contract and to the persons working there within the scope of their duties. Passing files on to third parties outside the institution is not permitted. Paragraph 3 also applies to institutions: exhibitions, publications, websites, social-media channels and educational offerings of the institution require a publication licence under § 4.
(5) For images showing insignia from the National Socialist era, the archive licence applies only within the purposes exhaustively listed in the Notes on handling historically sensitive material; purely private use of such images is excluded.
§ 4 Publication licence
(1) A separate licence is required for each publication. It is granted per image and specifies medium, print run or reach, territory and duration.
(2) AURIS distinguishes:
a) Editorial and documentary use — reporting, academic and popular-science publications, exhibitions, educational media, documentary film.
b) Commercial use — advertising, product design, merchandising and any other use that promotes sales.
(3) For historical material, AURIS as a rule holds no consent from the persons depicted. A commercial licence is therefore granted only if the customer has cleared the necessary rights themselves or the image shows no identifiable persons.
(4) Conditions, fee and term are stated in the quote. Requests can be made directly from the image view (“Request publication licence”) or via the page Request publication licence.
§ 5 Prohibited uses
Regardless of the licence acquired, the following is prohibited:
a) passing on, reselling or making the file as such publicly available; only use within the customer’s own work or product is permitted;
b) use as part of a trademark, logo or business emblem;
c) use in templates or print-on-demand products intended for resale;
d) removing or altering watermarks, copyright notices and metadata;
e) use for training or improving artificial-intelligence or machine-learning systems, and in procedures for the biometric identification of natural persons;
f) distorting edits and any contextualisation that falsifies the historical meaning of the photograph;
g) any use that degrades, ridicules or misrepresents the persons depicted, in particular in contexts such as illness, addiction, sexuality, crime or political affiliation;
h) any use that violates §§ 86a, 130 or 131 of the German Criminal Code (StGB), and any propagandistic, glorifying, trivialising or relativising use of National Socialist symbols;
i) the context-free use of sensitive images, in particular as profile or cover pictures, on clothing or on everyday objects.
§ 6 Third-party rights
(1) AURIS transfers only the rights it holds. Rights in the depicted content — in particular personality rights of the persons depicted (§§ 22, 23 KUG), rights in depicted trademarks, works and buildings — are not part of the licence.
(2) Checking and obtaining any third-party rights required is the customer’s responsibility. On request AURIS supports with the provenance information available to it, but owes no rights clearance.
(3) For photographs up to 1945 it cannot be ruled out that persons depicted are still alive. For portraits of deceased persons the period under § 22 sentence 3 KUG applies.
§ 7 Credit
(1) Every publication must carry a credit directly next to the image or in the customary place in the work, in the form: “AURIS MEDIA Verlag GmbH / auris-archiv.com”, supplemented by the collection or author where stated in the quote.
(2) No credit is required under the archive licence pursuant to § 3, as no publication takes place.
(3) AURIS requests a specimen copy or other proof of publication. There is no obligation to provide one.
§ 8 Breach, suspension, subsequent licensing
(1) In the event of a breach of these terms, AURIS may revoke the rights granted, suspend access and demand that the use cease.
(2) Statutory claims, in particular under § 97 UrhG and §§ 823, 1004 BGB, remain unaffected.
(3) If an image is used without the required publication licence, AURIS may demand subsequent licensing at the conditions applicable at that time.
§ 9 Withdrawal of individual images
(1) AURIS may withdraw individual images if there are doubts about provenance or the chain of rights, if third-party rights are asserted, or if personality rights are affected.
(2) The customer will be informed and shall cease further use as soon as this is reasonable. Editions of printed works already published need not be recalled.
(3) For a publication licence already paid for but not yet exercised, the fee paid will be refunded.
§ 10 Text and data mining
AURIS declares a reservation of rights under § 44b (3) UrhG for all content of the archive. Reproductions for the purpose of text and data mining are prohibited.
§ 11 Terms of protection and public domain
(1) The collection contains photographs of differing copyright status: photographic works (§ 2 UrhG, protected until seventy years after the author’s death) and simple photographs (§ 72 UrhG, protected for fifty years from publication).
(2) Where a photograph is in the public domain, the licence relates to the provision, cataloguing and making available of the digitised image. Under § 68 UrhG there is no separate related right in the mere reproduction of public-domain visual works.
(3) On request AURIS provides information on the classification of an image, where available.
§ 12 Final provisions
German law applies. Should individual provisions be invalid, the validity of the remaining provisions remains unaffected.
Version: September 2026