Search results : 1375

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...

In a recently announced decision, the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court - BGH) decided that Article 87(4) of the Urheberrechtsgesetz (Copyright Act - UrhG), which prevents broadcasting companies from receiving a share of the appliance and phonogram tax provided for in Article 54(1) UrhG, does not represent a serious breach of Article 5(2)(b) of Directive 2001/29/EC and cannot therefore justify a claim against a state under EU law. In the case concerned, the plaintiff, VG Media (collecting society for copyright and related rights of media companies) demanded compensation from the Federal...

The Bundesnetzagentur (Federal Network Agency - BNetzA) announced on 3 September 2010 that it had sent a draft market definition, market analysis and regulatory measures concerning the wholesale market for broadcasting transmission services to the European Commission for comment. In the proposal, the Agency, which is responsible, inter alia, for regulating national telecommunications markets in Germany, suggests that the signal delivery and input markets for cable networks should be removed from sector-specific regulation and placed under the general competition supervision carried out by the Bundeskartellamt...