Summary

The author examines the main principles of citation in accordance with the Copyright Law of the Republic of Estonia and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. Citation is one of the ways of freely using an author's work; law allows use of the work of an author for the purpose of citation without the author's consent and without payment of remuneration.

According to § 19(1) of the Estonian Copyright Law, only lawfully published works may be cited in a reasonable extent and under the obligation to communicate accurately the meaning of the work quoted as a whole.

§ 19(1) of the Estonian Copyright Law is narrower in meaning than Article 10(1) of the Berne Convention. Pursuant to the Berne Convention, quotations can be made from works lawfully made available to the public. The author of this article holds that the provisions of the Berne Convention should be applied to quotation since this Convention forms part of the Estonian legal system.

The author looks at some cases where the rules of quotation have not been followed in the Estonian press.