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In a decision of 7 July 2009, the Bayerische Verwaltungsgerichtshof (Bavarian Administrative Court - BayVGH) rejected the appeal of Axel Springer AG concerning its takeover of the broadcasting group ProSiebenSAT.1 (see IRIS 2009-2: 10). The Bayerische Landeszentrale für neue Medien (Bavarian New Media Office - BLM) had refused to approve Axel Springer AG's plan to acquire all the shares in ProSiebenSAT.1 and to submit a public takeover bid for the free-floating preference shares without voting rights attached. It explained that the planned change of ownership might give Axel Springer AG a dominant...

The European Commission has examined film support at the level of the German Länder in various decisions. This support is currently provided primarily by the following institutions: - Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg mbH; - FilmFernsehFonds Bayern GmbH; - Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH; - Filmbüro Bremen e.V.; WFB Bremen GmbH; - Mediengesellschaft Niedersachsen/Bremen mbH; - Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein GmbH; - Hessische Filmförderung; HessenInvestFilm; Filmförderung des Landes Hessen; - Filmbüro Mecklenburg-Vorpommern; - Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung GmbH; - Filmstiftung...

The Deutsche Werberat (German Advertising Standards Council) has published a code of conduct on commercial communication for foods and beverages. The aims of this voluntary self-monitoring initiative are to ensure compliance with legal requirements and to promote competition. The code of conduct includes so-called general principles, such as the protection of consumers in their confidence in the quality of foods and beverages, the ban on advertising messages that counteract a balanced and active lifestyle and diet, or that encourage unbalanced or excessive consumption. The code also contains specific...

On 19 June 2009, the Board of the Filmförderungsanstalt (Film Support Office - FFA) declared itself in favour of complete digitisation of cinemas in Germany. The decision follows an initiative by the Federal Commissioner for Culture and Media and is also designed to help settle the legal dispute between the FFA and representatives of the cinema and video industry over the fairness of tax contributions (see IRIS 2009-4:7). It provides for financial support for cinema operators worth up to EUR 40 million over a five-year period. In return, the cinema operators must withdraw their complaints and pay...

In a ruling of 25 June 2009 in favour of the video portal MyVideo, the Landgericht München I (Munich District Court I - LG) decided that MyVideo is not obliged to stop reproducing pieces of music over which the defendant, the licensing company CELAS, asserts mechanical reproduction rights. The collecting society GEMA (society for musical performance and mechanical reproduction rights) was originally entrusted with the task of managing the rights to the EMI repertoire. However, EMI Music Publishing then demanded some of these rights back from GEMA and transferred responsibility for them to CELAS,...