Impressum

An Impressum (from Latin impressum, "the impressed, engraved, pressed in, impression") is the term given to a legally mandated statement of the ownership and authorship of a document, which must be included in books, newspapers, magazines[1], websites[2], and business correspondence[3] published or otherwise made available to consumers in Germany and certain other German-speaking countries, such as Austria and Switzerland. The Telemediengesetz (German meaning "Telemedia Act") mandates the use of an Impressum. Historically, the German impressum requirement has its roots in the censorship laws of 19th century and earlier monarchies, and has been criticized as illiberal and contrary to the principle of free speech;[4] in most other countries there is no comparable requirement.

Equivalency

In printed media, an impressum is identical to the printer's imprint as defined under UK law. Under the Printer's Imprint Act 1961,[5] which amended the earlier Newspapers, Printers, and Reading Rooms Repeal Act 1869, any printer must put their name and address on the first or last leaf of every paper or book they print or face a penalty of up to £50 per copy.

The UK Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 extends the use of imprints in the case any election material to include all forms of communication, including websites and social media accounts. All election material is also required to show the name of the promoter of the material and the name and address of the person on whose behalf it is being published.[6]

There is no equivalent legislation in the United States. The closest English-language terms for Impressum are:

  • Masthead: for newspapers and magazines, a list, usually found on the editorial page, of the members of its board.[7]
  • Colophon: for books, a note indicating metadata about the book such as the date of publication, printer and publisher.
  • "Site notice", "Legal notice", "Legal information" or "Legal disclosure": for websites in English, a page title commonly used to link to legal metadata and terms of use.

None of these terms is an exact equivalent in all contexts. The terms "masthead" and "colophon" apply to printed publications only and are not commonly used on English-language websites, while "site notice" is website-specific and "legal notice" or "legal disclosure" are rarely found in printed works. An "imprint" in publishing may also mean a brand name under which a work is published,[8] and so may not be understood to mean an Impressum.

On webpages

The Telemediengesetz (German meaning "Telemedia Act") requires that German websites disclose information about the publisher, including their name and address, telephone number or e-mail address, trade registry number, VAT number, and other information depending on the type of company.[9] German websites are defined as being published by individuals or organisations that are based in Germany, so an Impressum is required regardless of whether a site is in the .de domain.

Facebook offers a way for users to add an Impressum for user-created public pages.[10][11]

Complications

This law has created privacy concerns for individuals who maintain blogs or personal homepages. The law has also caused lawyers to scrutinise websites for this information and send Abmahnung (cease and desist) letters to their maintainers in the event it is missing.[12]

gollark: They're "universal truth" because they apply regardless of location etc. in the universe.
gollark: You can have "universal truth" with things like logical statements, where you can come up with things that are always true given some set of axioms. For physical/sciencey things you can just do "it's very unlikely for this to not be the case".
gollark: They... can be... good for explaining things. They aren't proofs but demonstrations.
gollark: Your analogies are bad because you can't derive ultimate universal truth from a few instances of something being true.
gollark: I guess something something precision errors.

References
  1. de:Presserecht, Retrieved 28 April 2015
  2. "Telemediengesetz". gesetze-im-internet.de. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
  3. "Geschäftsbriefe". IHK Frankfurt am Main (in German). Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  4. Frank Bösch, Mediengeschichte: Vom asiatischen Buchdruck zum Fernsehen, Campus Verlag, 2011, ISBN 9783593393797
  5. "Printer's Imprint Act 1961". legislation.gov.uk. The National Archives. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  6. "Printers Imprint" (Microsoft Word). British Printing Industries Federation. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  7. Duden: "(Buchw.): Vermerk über Verleger, Drucker, auch Redaktionen u.a. in Büchern, Zeitungen u. Zeitschriften"
  8. "English definition of "imprint"". Cambridge Dictionaries Online. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  9. "Telemediengesetz (TMG) § 5 Allgemeine Informationspflichten". gesetze-im-internet.de. Bundesministerium der Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  10. "How do I add an Impressum to my Page?". Facebook. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
  11. "What is Impressum on Facebook Page with Example". geekgyaan.com. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  12. MMarks. "U.S. comment on 'Impressum'/German lawyers' cease and desist hunt". Transblawg. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
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