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In a ruling of 30 September 2003, the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court - BGH) dismissed a complaint by the former Chairman of Deutsche Telekom AG (DTAG), in which the latter had applied for an injunction against the defendant, a financial magazine, concerning publication of a photomontage. The photomontage showed the plaintiff - who was still Chairman at the time - sitting on a crumbling letter "T" forming part of the DTAG company logo. The figure that was meant to represent the plaintiff was made up of two parts: someone else's body with the plaintiff's head, taken from a photograph. The...

The Direktorenkonferenz der Landesmedienanstalten (Conference of Regional Media Authority Directors - DLM), which comprises representatives of the German Land media authorities responsible for licensing and supervising private broadcasting, is currently discussing the distinction between broadcasting and media services. It has already decided that the concept of broadcasting can no longer be defined according to means of transmission. Technical progress and the resulting convergence of content mean that new definition criteria are needed. Practically speaking, the DLM believes that the distinction...

At its meeting on 10 October 2003, the Television Council of the public service broadcaster ZDF revised ZDF's internal guidelines on the protection of minors. The guidelines firstly contain detailed provisions on the treatment of films that have been rated by a regional ratings authority or a voluntary self-regulatory body. They also ban the transmission of programmes with the same content as certain listed media; the ban also applies if the content has been significantly altered. The guidelines also include rules on exceptions made for specific reasons to the watershed provisions set out in Article...

In 1999, Bavaria Film GmbH (Bavaria) and the Bayerische Landesanstalt für Aufbaufinanzierung (Bavarian authority for construction finance - LfA) founded Bayerische Filmhallen GmbH (BFH) for the purpose of building a new film studio. The LfA held 70% of the shares and Bavaria 30%. Building the film studio cost EUR 6.9 million, which was entirely financed out of public funds provided by the LfA. The European Commission assumed that the LfA's holding in BFH and the outright grant provided for the building work constituted state aid within the meaning of Art. 87(1) of the EC Treaty. It concluded that,...

The law on financial support for the German cinematographic industry, promulgated in 1979 and amended regularly since then, lays down the ways in which German film producers may be subsidised. In October 1992, the European Commission authorised this scheme for a period of five years. In 1997 Germany asked the Commission to extend its authorisation, which was allowed for a further period of five years (see IRIS 1999-5: 4). Germany re-applied to the Commission in 2003 for authorisation to amend and continue the scheme of subsidies. The Commission authorised the granting of subsidies for a further...