The legal basis is § 22 Paragraph 1 NKomVG in conjunction with § 12 BGB analogously.

The coat of arms of the City of Salzgitter represents a sovereign landmark in the sense of municipal constitutional law. The City of Salzgitter enjoys name protection in accordance with Section 22 (1) NKomVG in conjunction with Section 12 BGB.

When using the city coat of arms, there is a risk of confusion of attribution, as is the case in naming law. The coat of arms is subject to increased protection and may not be used by just anyone (Blum Meyer, NKomVG, § 22, RN 15).

Whether a use can be considered justified must be assessed on a case-by-case basis. The applicant's concern must justify drawing attention to itself with such a typical sign of the municipality (Blum Meyer, NKomVG, § 22, RN 16).

When granting approval, the City of Salzgitter consistently ensures that the applicant's request to use the municipal coat of arms is appropriate and justified. It must therefore be assessed whether the request justifies drawing attention to itself with this typical symbol of the municipality. In addition, the impression must not be created that the applicant is functionally or institutionally connected to the holder of sovereign authority through the use of the municipal coat of arms.

As a rule, the use of the coat of arms is only approved for local clubs and associations after a case-by-case examination. Use by political parties and associations is ruled out simply because of the City of Salzgitter's neutrality requirement.

Commercial use is also not permitted, as the duty of equal treatment (Art. 3 GG) would apply in the event of a usage permit. This also applies to the use of the coat of arms in social media.

If the coat of arms is used without an application or without permission (unlawfully), the municipal coat of arms is subject to protection under name law (Section 12 BGB analogously in conjunction with Section 22 NKomVG), from which the claim for injunctive relief under private law follows.

Note on stickers:

Non-commercial use of a sticker, for example on the rear of a car, will have to be regarded as permitted under common law. In this way, the user testifies to his/her affiliation with the municipality concerned without creating or claiming the impression or appearance of official authority.

After the town of Watenstedt-Salzgitter was founded on April 1, 1942, the town continued to bear the coat of arms of the present-day district of Salzgitter-Bad for about six months (it combined the presumed old town colors of red and white with the salt hooks, which were placed in the lower half of a shield divided red over silver), which had been granted by the Hanoverian Chief President on November 21, 1936. The introduction of a new coat of arms for the new town was considered, but could not be realized due to the many other problems that had to be overcome; and so Watenstedt-Salzgitter remained without a coat of arms from 1942.

On January 18, 1946, the town council discussed a draft of a town coat of arms. Councillor Dr. Höck was commissioned to complete this design. On March 6, 1946, the city council agreed to initiate a competition. 38 designs were submitted by 17 artists, none of which were realized, although three designs were awarded prizes, which related to agriculture, mining and smelting.

The painter and graphic artist Günther Clausen in Braunschweig was commissioned to design a coat of arms for the new town. His design, which included two town walls with gates, the symbol for salt, three full ears of wheat, a hammer and mallet, the chemical symbol for iron and a blast furnace, was approved by both the school and culture committee and the main committee. The Watenstedt-Salzgitter town council, which had been presented with all the previous drafts, followed the recommendations of the aforementioned committees at its meeting on August 13, 1947. In November 1947, the Brunswick administrative president refused to recommend approval of the coat of arms, which the British military government had not objected to, due to the objections of the Lower Saxony State Archives in Wolfenbüttel (too overloaded and confusing). This decision led to a protest by the main committee of the town of Watenstedt-Salzgitter and to a dispute that dragged on for two years.

Finally, the town followed the recommendation of the director of the Lower Saxony State Archives in Hanover and commissioned the teacher Gustav Völker, Hanover-Kleefeld, to produce a new design. Völker submitted five designs, which were discussed. When the possibility of dropping the mallet and iron was discussed, the works council meeting of Erzbergbau-Salzgitter GmbH unanimously decided on January 27, 1950 to recommend to the city that the emblem of the mining industry, mallet and iron, be added to the city's coat of arms. The Lower Saxony State Archives in Wolfenbüttel raised no objections to the design favored by the main committee of the town of Watenstedt-Salzgitter and so the town council decided to introduce a town coat of arms on 31 May 1950. A week earlier, the town councillor Zobel had written to the town director Seibt objecting to the shape of the salt hooks contained in the draft coat of arms, which in his opinion were drawn like hatchets. This objection was not taken into consideration after consultation with Völker. On January 24, 1951, the Minister of the Interior of Lower Saxony approved the coat of arms, which is still used today, at the same time as the name of the town was changed from "Watenstedt-Salzgitter" to "Salzgitter".