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In September 2010, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) and the Allianz Deutscher Produzenten Film & Fernsehen e. V. (alliance of German film and television producers) agreed a set of guidelines for cooperation in relation to commissioned television productions. The aim of these guidelines is to bring the rules on cooperation between the parties into line with the digital age, taking into account the distribution of exploitation rights set out in the protocol to the 12. Rundfunkänderungsstaatsvertrag (12th Inter-State Broadcasting Agreement). The agreement applies to fully-financed commissioned ZDF...

On 23 September 2010, the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie (Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology - BMWi) submitted the draft amendment to the Telekommunikationsgesetz (Telecommunications Act - TKG) to the other government departments for approval. This represents the first step in the transposition of the Directive amending the European telecommunications legal framework, which must be completed by next May (see IRIS 2010-1: 1/7). The draft in particular contains important changes to competition rules and consumer protection. With its proposed regulatory principles, the...

The Oberverwaltungsgericht Saarlouis (Saarlouis Higher Administrative Court - OVG) has upheld an appeal by the mayor of Saarbrücken against a decision of the Verwaltungsgericht Saarland (Saarland Administrative Court - VG), with the proviso that the mayor, in accordance with the OVG’s interpretation of the law, should issue a new decision concerning the disputed application of the private broadcaster Funkhaus Saar GmbH. Funkhaus Saar GmbH had asked for permission to film the mayor’s public meetings for television reporting purposes. After the mayor had refused to permit such filming, the broadcaster...

On 3 September 2010, the Landgericht Hamburg (Hamburg district court - LG) ordered the YouTube video portal to block access to three disputed music videos and, since they had already been published, to provide information about the extent to which they had been used and pay a corresponding amount of compensation. The producer of the pieces of music had complained that his copyright and related rights, protected by the Urheberrechtsgesetz (Copyright Act - UrhG), had been infringed by the unauthorised use of the music in numerous videos available on YouTube. The LG Hamburg only took a decision on...

In a recently published decision, the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court - BVerfG) quashed a ruling of the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court - BGH) concerning the so-called appliance tax for printers and plotters and referred the case back to the BGH. The related procedure concerned whether printers and plotters constitute duplication machines, which are subject to the tax, under Article 54a(1) of the old version of the Urheberrechtsgesetz (Copyright Act - UrhG), which was valid until 31 December 2007. The VG Wort (Wort collecting society), which collects copyright fees...