You need a legal notice because your project website is a publicly accessible online presence. In Germany, such content is subject to legal notice requirements (including those under telemedia law) as well as principles of press law. This is intended to allow third parties (such as data subjects or rights holders) to quickly identify who is responsible for the content.
Why does this also apply to crowdfunding?
Even if you consider your project to be “private,” when you post content (text, images, videos, updates) on a crowdfunding site, that content is generally accessible to the public. According to the linked article, the requirement to provide an “Impressum” (legal notice) may therefore depend not only on whether you are acting in a commercial capacity, but often applies simply because
- you publish editorial content (e.g., updates, statements, analyses) and/or
- you may infringe on the rights of third parties with your content (e.g., photos, videos, quotes).
What is the purpose of the legal notice?
A legal notice makes it possible for affected parties to quickly contact the right person—for example, when
- if someone feels personally offended by a statement on the project page,
- where copyrights (e.g., music, photos, video clips) are involved,
- trademark rights or other intellectual property rights are affected.
Failing to include a legal notice could also expose you to legal risks (e.g., cease-and-desist letters).
Notice for Individuals (Privacy Policy)
If you are registering as an individual, we will not publish your personal address information in the legal notice to protect your privacy. Instead, we typically provide only an email address as a contact option.