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Press releases issued at the end of September by various level 4 network operators reported that Kabel Deutschland GmbH (KDG), a 100% subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG, had agreed to grant network operators exclusive marketing rights covering digital television. As part of the anticipated co-operation between KDG and the members of the union of private cable network operators (ANGA) and Deutsche Netzmarketing (DNMG), direct contact with customers shall in future only be made by the level 4 operators, unless the latter expressly agree to allow KDG to carry out such marketing.

In a decision announced on 26 August 2002, the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court - BVerfG) upheld a decision of the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court - BGH) regarding the obligation set out in Article 57.1.1 of the Telekommunikationsgesetz (Telecommunications Act - TKG). According to that provision, the owner of a property cannot prohibit the setting up of telecommunications lines if a line or installation which is secured by a right already exists and if the property is not affected or is only insignificantly affected by such use. According to the TKG, "telecommunications...

In Spring 2002, the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty entered into force. Germany had signed both treaties on 20 December 1996, at the conclusion of a Diplomatic Conference on copyright and related rights held in Geneva. Under German law, ratification of these treaties depends not only on a new Vertragsgesetz (Treaty Act) being introduced in accordance with Article 59.2 of the Grundgesetz (Basic Law) - the Gesetz über die Zustimmung des Deutschen Bundestages zum WIPO-Vertrag (Act on the Approval by the German Bundestag of the WIPO Treaty) - but also on German...

In a letter sent in mid-October 2002 to the President of the Rundfunkkommission (Broadcasting Commission) of the Länder and the Minister-President of Rheinland-Pfalz, the public service broadcasters - the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Union of German Public Service Broadcasters - ARD), Zweite Deutsche Fernsehen (ZDF) and DeutschlandRadio (DLR) - explained how they understood their public service remit. The reason for the letter was an amendment to the Rundfunkstaatsvertrag (Inter-State Agreement on Broadcasting - RStV), adopted...

With the exchange of ratification documents between the current Mayor of the Berlin Land and the Minister-President of the Brandenburg Land, the merger of the two regional broadcasting authorities was officially completed on 29 November 2002. The broadcasting authorities, Sender Freies Berlin (SFB) and Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg (ORB) have therefore amalgamated to form a single public service broadcaster known as Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) (see IRIS 2002-7: 8). The Inter-State Agreement, which needed the approval of the parliaments of both Länder, was given the green light by the...