The right of quotation pursuant to Art. 25 CopA is a mandatory law (statutory licence). It cannot be excluded by a contract. However, there are problems in this respect in relation to works which are only offered in digital form, to which the users of the work only have access when they have paid a licence fee. In this way, perception of a work – the fundamental condition to be able to quote a work – is no longer guaranteed. Although these works are basically published, only those for which a licence fee is paid for access are made available and thus also quotable. If you do not pay a licence fee, you do not receive any access to these works and also cannot quote from them as a result; whereby the exception of quotation – the right to quote published works without consent of the author – will be in vain. (c.f. also Hilty, Urheberrecht, 2011, 205f in this regard.
