How Beck-Noxtua is opening a new chapter in the legal data economy 

The legal market is undergoing a historic transition. What has been stored for decades in commentaries, monographs, databases and archives is now becoming easily searchable and usable in a structured format thanks to AI applications. For many, the question arises: How can legal quality be protected and strengthened in this new world, whilst at the same time making it more efficiently usable? 

For C.H.BECK and Noxtua, the answer begins with the people who create legal knowledge: authors.  

Their work forms the foundation of legal guidance in teaching and academia, in law firms, in legal departments, in the courtroom and equally in AI applications.  

That is why Beck-Noxtua is built on the principle that Legal AI should support legal professionals in their expertise and day-to-day work. Noxtua’s aim is to make AI technology safe and usable for legal experts in a meaningful way. This requires a combination of in-depth AI and legal expertise. That is why Noxtua, as an AI company, and C.H.BECK, as a leading investor and strategic partner, have joined forces to develop AI solutions that meet the specific and demanding needs of legal work.  

Why authors are more important today than ever before 

High-quality legal sources are at the heart of this. 

For whilst AI enables faster orientation, structured analysis of complex issues, shorter paths from problem to solution, and transparent recommendations including sources, none of these functions works reliably without one thing: trustworthy, curated content. Without high-quality, verified data that leads to high-quality and reliable results, AI is, from a legal perspective, merely an impressive technical gimmick. 

Legal AI is therefore not merely a ‘user’ of legal literature; it becomes an amplifier. When Legal AI is based on legal sources, the visibility of authors increases, their works are cited more frequently, and the quality of their reasoning becomes the foundation of digital legal work. 

The more authors fully contribute their content, the more effective Beck-Noxtua becomes as a working environment for legal professionals. 

The introduction of AI into legal work is changing not only the way research is conducted, but also expectations regarding legal data. 

What benefits does this offer authors? 

Visibility that strengthens legal standing 

Beck-Noxtua has set itself the goal of making sources and their authors visible. By providing precise source citations that include the title of the work and optional images of the authors, the AI Workspace ensures that they are always clearly identifiable. 

In practical terms, this means that source references with work titles appear with every response in the Beck-Noxtua AI Workspace. Optional images highlight the authors’ recognisability and identity. And click counts allow us to determine which works are actually being consulted.  

Those who shape legal discourse remain recognisable, even in the digital space. And that is precisely what matters, because visibility is not merely recognition. It is also capital in a world where legal knowledge and reputation are increasingly conveyed digitally. 

Protection against uncontrolled use by third parties 

Many major market players use third-party content without permission; C.H.BECK takes a different approach. The publisher has deliberately established mechanisms to protect authors’ content from illegal exploitation. 

Through the reservation in clause 3 of the contract addendum on AI use, only the publisher may use the respective work for automated analysis, in particular for the identification of trends and correlations. This protective measure is intended to prevent authors’ content from being illegally extracted by third parties with the aim of training language models without the rights holders’ consent. 

With this reservation, the publisher thus prevents text and data mining by third parties. The rights of use and prohibited uses are further set out in Clause 10 of the Terms and Conditions for Beck’s Digital Services. 

This constitutes a firewall against data extraction, implemented both technically and organisationally. Whilst other platforms treat content as ‘freely available’ as soon as it is online, Beck-Noxtua actively protects the integrity of legal works. In this way, we consistently protect copyright in the AI era. 

Fair remuneration from the very first euro, with an increased fee rate for AI training 

Beck-Noxtua does not follow a Big Tech model in which content disappears anonymously into training data. Instead, authors receive a share of the revenue generated by C.H.BECK through the distribution of Beck-Noxtua, at the contractually agreed rate, from the very first euro. 

Furthermore, the publisher has announced an increased royalty rate specifically for authors whose content may be used to train the AI. 

An AI system that protects European sovereignty 

To enable and consolidate security, sovereignty and resilience, Noxtua is developing Europe’s sovereign Legal AI as a complete AI system, comprising its own AI infrastructure, models, data and a user-centred interface. Noxtua therefore does not use US hyperscalers, but works closely with its German partners IONOS and the Open Telekom Cloud. This is because legal data requires control over infrastructure, protection against extraterritorial access laws, and compliance with European confidentiality and professional regulations. 

AI and copyright: What remains? What changes? 

We adhere to a clear principle: without authors’ rights, there can be no reliable legal knowledge framework.  

That is why at Beck-Noxtua there is no transfer of content to third parties, no uncontrolled training of third-party models, no ‘scraping’ by big tech providers, and comprehensive protection against text and data mining by unauthorised parties in accordance with Sections 2 and 8 of the Publishing Act (VerlG) and the Copyright Act (UrhG). 

This may seem paradoxical at first glance: exclusive rights as a condition for participation? Yet the starting point here is no different from that of print publications. There too, the publisher is granted exclusive rights of use and publication in accordance with Sections 2(1) and 8 of the VerlG. Publishers have never been able to operate economically in any other way. This is all more true in the age of AI, where investment costs are significantly higher than in the print world or the world of legal databases. 

Furthermore, as the rights holder, C.H.BECK is better placed to take more effective action against infringements. This protects not only the publisher, but above all the authors. 

The use of AI in legal manuscript preparation  

C.H.BECK accepts AI as a writing aid, not as an author. 

The publisher expressly recognises the use of AI systems as a modern tool for academic writing and editing, subject to clear conditions: structuring, text checking, summarising and suggestions for phrasing are permitted. However, the following are not permitted: apparent original works lacking a degree of creativity that consist essentially of AI-generated results; fully automated processes without supervision; the training of third-party models using submitted texts; and any granting of rights or transfer of submitted content to AI providers. 

It is important that the specific text delivered was created predominantly by a natural person, and that this text demonstrates a degree of creativity. The author must ensure, through appropriate configuration and use of the relevant AI systems, that they retain the greatest possible control over the AI-generated results and content. 

Humans remain responsible and AI remains a tool. 

Why this approach matters for Europe 

The foundation of the law is trust. This trust cannot be outsourced. Beck-Noxtua is therefore a European alternative to AI offerings that automate knowledge without understanding it. For the legal system consists not only of data, but of people who bear responsibility. 

That is why Europe needs Legal AI that serves the law and not just the market.