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The Bundesverwaltungsgericht (Federal Administrative Court - BVerwG) has asked the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) for a preliminary ruling in the legal dispute concerning the broadcasting ban imposed on television broadcaster Roj TV. The TV channel, operated by two Danish public limited companies under a Danish licence, broadcasts mainly Kurdish-language programmes all over Europe. The German Bundesministerium des Inneren (Federal Ministry of Home Affairs) banned the broadcaster's activities in Germany in 2008 under German association law on the grounds that Roj TV propagated violence...

In a legal dispute between a cable network operator and the Verwertungsgesellschaft Media (Media collecting society - VG), the Kammergericht (Supreme Court - KG) in Berlin decided on 25 January 2010 that cable network operators are obliged to pay a copyright fee to broadcasters for retransmitting their programmes. It thus upheld the lower instance ruling. The Landgericht Berlin (Berlin District Court - LG) had decided in 2008 that copyright fees were due to VG Media. In its appeal, the cable network operator had argued that the court had not interpreted the concept of cable retransmission in Art....

In a ruling of 21 January 2010, the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court - BGH) considered the conditions under which a film production company correctly meets its obligation to offer a so-called "final option". In the case concerned, the plaintiff, a film production company, and the defendant, which is involved in film distribution and trading in film licences, concluded a contract in 2002, under which the defendant was granted exclusive rights to exploit the film "Der W.". The contract also granted a so-called "final option" to the defendant. This obliged the plaintiff to offer the defendant...

On 12 February 2010, the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court - BVerfG) decided not to rule on a complaint about the constitutionality of Art. 97a(2) of the Urheberrechtsgesetz (Copyright Act - UrhG). The disputed provision limits claims by victims of simple copyright infringements to the reimbursement of the cost of hiring a lawyer to warn the offender to EUR 100. The aim of this rule is to avoid excessive legal fees in cases where the offender is accused of only an insignificant copyright infringement. The plaintiff in the case concerned sold second-hand goods via an Internet...

In a decision of 2 March 2010 on the implementation of the Data Retention Directive 2006/24/EC, the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court - BVerfG) drew a temporary line under the debate on the constitutionality of the German implementing act. The judges considered that the provisions of Art. 113a(1) and 113b(1) of the Telekommunikationsgesetz (Telecommunications Act - TKG) and Art. 100g of the Strafprozessordnung (Code of Criminal Procedure - StPO) infringed the privacy of telecommunications enshrined in Art. 10(1) of the Grundgesetz (Basic Law - GG). They declared the provisions...