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Having been adopted by 14 Land parliaments in recent months, the 15th Rundfunkänderungsstaatsvertrag (Agreement Amending the Inter-State Broadcasting Agreement) has now been approved by the parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia and finally, on 16 December 2011, by the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein. The agreement concerns the financing of public service broadcasting. In response to changing user behaviour, it regulates the switch from a device-based licence fee to a household-based tax from 2013, with continued exemptions (e.g., for people receiving income support or unemployment benefit, or for...

In a ruling of 17 November 2011, the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court - BGH) decided that prominent figures who advertise investment funds that ultimately fail can, in some circumstances, be liable for losses suffered by investors. This particularly applies to advertisers who refer to their specialist knowledge in advertising for investment products. The decision was taken in the case of a former German Defence Minister, who was sued for damages by several investors because of his appearance in an advertisement for an investment fund. In the first instance, the politician was ordered to...

On 11 January 2012, the Oberlandesgericht München (Munich Appeal Court - OLG), in a dispute over costs, ruled in summary proceedings on a temporary injunction against a publisher that had been issued by the Amtsgericht München (Munich Local Court) and later declared lifted by the parties in appeal proceedings. The injunction had prevented the publisher from reporting on the main proceedings in a manner that identified the defendant. The OLG had to consider under what circumstances an injunction could be enforced in order to provide temporary legal protection. The case followed a series of programmes...

In a judgment of 25 October 2011 (Case VI ZR 332/09), the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice - BGH) ruled that an actor who takes part in pornographic films in a way that enables him to be identified must accept his name being mentioned in a tabloid newspaper. The plaintiff was a sculptor but starred a total of eight times in pornographic films, in which all of his body was shown, including his face. His face was also printed on the cover of the corresponding film material, although his real name was not mentioned. He clearly does not use condoms in the sex scenes. At an event to present...

In a judgment of 25 October 2011, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that claims arising from breaches of personality rights on the internet can also be brought before courts of a member state in which the person concerned has his or her “centre of interests”. It also held that the nature of Article 3 of the E-Commerce Directive (2000/31/EG) was not such that it required transposition in the form of a specific conflict-of-laws rule. Both the Tribunal de grande instance de Paris (Paris Regional Court) (Case C-161/10) and the Bundesgerichtshof (German Federal Court of Justice) (Case C-509/09)...