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The Bundesministerium des Innern (Federal Ministry of the Interior - BMI) tabled a bill amending data protection law on 1 December 2010. The bill particularly included measures to prevent serious breaches of privacy. According to the ministry, the bill, which was initially submitted to the department ministers for a federal government vote, is mainly designed to strengthen the right of individuals to decide how their personal data is used on the Internet. For this reason, a new Article 38b is to be included in the Bundesdatenschutzgesetz (Federal Data Protection Act - BDSG), regulating the publication...

On 17 December 2010, the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court - BGH) decided that the owner of a plot of land could, in principle, prohibit the unauthorised creation and exploitation of photographs and film recordings of its property for commercial purposes. The plaintiff, the “Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten” (Prussian Castles and Gardens Foundation), a public law foundation, is responsible for looking after, maintaining and providing public access to numerous historic buildings and gardens of interest to tourists in the Länder of Berlin and Brandenburg. Two of the defendants sell...

On 14 October 2010, the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court - BGH) issued a ruling on whether it was reasonable to expect a collecting society to enter into a general agreement. In the case concerned, the Bundesverband Musikindustrie e.V. (Federal Music Industry Association), which represents 13 music download services, had taken legal action against the Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte (Society for Musical Performance and Mechanical Reproduction Rights - GEMA) because the latter had refused to sign a general agreement with it on the use of...

The Bundesrat (upper house of parliament) has issued a statement criticising parts of the Digital Agenda published by the European Commission. The Digital Agenda includes proposals to build a European high-speed network, with the objective of equipping all European households with Internet speeds of at least 30 Mbit/s, and at least half of European households with more than 100 Mbit/s by 2020 (see IRIS 2010-7/4). Although, in principle, the Bundesrat welcomed the Commission’s proposals to develop suitable funding instruments for the broadband sector and reduce investment costs, it criticised the...

The Kommission für Zulassung und Aufsicht (Licensing and Monitoring Commission - ZAK) announced on 24 November 2010 that the TV broadcasters of the ProSiebenSat.1 group and the responsible Landesmedienanstalten (State media authorities - LMA) had settled their dispute over consumer protection in TV competitions and game shows. The disagreements concerned the competition rules adopted by the Landesmedienanstalten in 2009, which include rules on phone-in competitions designed to protect competition participants, such as a ban on misleading the public and certain transparency obligations (see IRIS...