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A number of changes to the ownership structure of German media companies have recently taken place, requiring the approval of the cartel and media concentration authorities. At the beginning of January 2008, it was announced that the acquisition by Axel Springer AG of the shares owned by Deutsche Telekom AGin the jointly run Internet portal bild.t-online.de had been approved and completed (case no. B 6-237/07). The online portal is accessible at the address bild.de and the publishing company’s related activities will be carried out by the firm Bild digital AG & Co. KG. After Axel Springer’s takeover...

The European Commission has concluded that German tax regulations for non-resident taxpayers introduced in April 2007 are incompatible with the freedom to provide services. The Commission announced its decision in a press release on 31 January 2008. In a Supplementary Reasoned Opinion under Article 226 of the EC Treaty, it therefore requested Germany to modify the system. In contrast to resident taxpayers who have to declare their income annually, certain categories of non-residents (mainly artists, sportsmen and journalists) have to pay a withholding tax at source of a maximum of 25% on their...

In a decision of 20 December 2007 (case no. 11 W 58/07), the Oberlandesgericht (Appeal Court - OLG) of Frankfurt a.M. ruled that the owner of an Internet connection was not necessarily responsible for copyright infringements committed by a family member – in this case, so-called file-sharing infringements. Connection owners should only be held liable if they were under an obligation to monitor the Internet use of family members. Such an obligation only applied if the connection owner had actual grounds for suspecting that the connection might be used to break the law. Such grounds only existed...

In a decision on general principle, the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court - BVerfG ) ruled that the right of reply to ambiguous remarks should not be granted if the breach of personality rights is the result of only one possible and reasonable interpretation of a text. If a text has a hidden message, the right of reply must be limited to content whose meaning is irrefutable for the reader. In 2004, the plaintiff published a magazine article about a private individual who was ordered to pay back millions received in compensation. The person concerned was granted the right to...

The European Commission has officially requested Germany to submit information on national legislation restricting the supply of gambling services, the first step in an infringement procedure under Article 226 of the EC Treaty. The European Commission wishes to investigate the possible infringement of Articles 43, 49 and 56 of the Treaty. The Commission’s inquiry focuses on a number of provisions of the new Glücksspiel-Staatsvertrag (Inter-State Gambling Agreement), which entered into force on 1 January 2008 having been agreed by the Minister-Presidents of the Bundesländer in December 2006. Under...