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On 13 November 2008, the Bundestag (lower house of parliament) voted in favour of the draft amendment of the Filmförderungsgesetz (Film Subsidies Act - FFG). The amendment aims to improve the structure of the German film industry, to strengthen the German film industry as an economic and cultural asset and to further develop quality and diversity. Film subsidies are an important means of achieving these objectives. The reforms particularly reflect a desire to optimise financial provision, especially by increasing sales promotion, and to bring the Act into line with technical advances, primarily...

With its recently announced decision of 23 October 2007, the European Commission declared the notified measures to subsidise the DVB-T switchover in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) to be state aid incompatible with the common market and, accordingly, their (planned) allocation to be unlawful. In its preliminary assessment at the opening stage of the proceedings, the Commission had expressed doubts as to whether the measure could be justified. In November 2005, the Commission declared that the subsidy granted in Berlin-Brandenburg to support the analogue-digital switchover was not compatible with...

According to press reports, the head of the State Chancellery of Rhineland-Palatinate, the Land in overall charge of the discussions, has announced that at their mid-September 2008 meeting the heads of the State and Senate chancelleries agreed on solutions to the outstanding issues concerning the implementation of the compromise with the European Commission. These solutions are to be incorporated into the 12. Rundfunkänderungsstaatsvertrag (12th Inter-State Broadcasting Agreement – RÄStV). In talks with Commission representatives on 16 September 2008, these outline proposals were then clarified...

Lottery tickets and sweets do not have to be kept separate after all. Reports had stated that lottery tickets and sweets had to be kept separate from one another in future according to a decision by the Berlin Landgericht (Regional Court – LG) in connection with an application for an injunction against the lottery organiser Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin (DKLB). However, this decision was set aside in its entirety following the latter’s appeal lodged on 7 October 2008. The original decision of 7 August 2008 (Case 103 O 134/08) stated that the lottery ticket counter should not be together with,...

The Cologne Landgericht (Regional Court – LG), in a decision of 2 September 2008, and the Düsseldorf LG, in a decision of 12 September 2008, are the first German courts to reach decisions on the new right to copyright information enshrined in section 101(9) of the Urheberrechtsgesetz (Copyright Act, – UrhG). This right has existed since 1 September 2008 and implements Directive 2004/48/EC on the enforcement of intellectual property rights. The applicant for an injunction in both cases was a company that possesses rights in sound recordings. Some of these recordings were illegally distributed over...