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The Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court - BGH) has again ruled on the admissibility of so-called "shock advertising" under competition law. In its judgment of 6 December 2001, it prevented the defendant, a press firm, from printing an advertisement for the Benetton company, depicting a person labelled as "HIV Positive", on the grounds that it was immoral within the meaning of Article 1 of the Gesetz zum Schutz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb (Unfair Competition Act - UWG) and was therefore unlawful. The BGH had reached the same verdict in a previous judgment of 6 July 1995 (I ZR 180/94)....

The Landesmedienanstalten (regional media authorities), which monitor private broadcasting in Germany, have recently dealt with two cases concerning the ban on religious and political advertising. On 8 January 2002, the regional media authorities' Gemeinsame Stelle Werbung, Recht, Europa und Verwaltung (Joint Office for Advertising, Law, Europe and Administration) recommended that each of the regional media authorities, which are responsible for monitoring private broadcasters, should ban further broadcasts of advertisements for the book Kraft zum Leben ("Power for Living"), published by the American...

On 20 December 2001, the heads of the German Bundesländer agreed to and signed the proposed amendments contained in the 6th Agreement Amending the Rundfunkstaatsvertrag (Inter-State Agreement on Broadcasting - RStV). Once they have been adopted by the parliaments of the Länder, the revised versions of the RStV, the Rundfunkfinanzierungs-Staatsvertrag (Inter-State Agreement on the Funding of Broadcasting - RFinStV) and the Mediendienste-Staatsvertrag (Inter-State Agreement on Media Services - MDStV) should enter into force on 1 July 2002. The provisions on media concentration contained in the RStV...

At the end of last year, the cable network operator Primacom lost a case at the Leipzig Amtsgericht (District Court - AG) to a client who had complained about a rise in cable connection fees. The company had explained that the rise was necessary because it intended to digitise its cable network and had to cover the cost of that investment. In its ruling, however, the court deemed such a price rise to be illegal. In particular, Primacom could not rely on its general terms and conditions for cable connection, under which appropriate price rises were permitted if Brussels modernisation became technically...

On 6 December 2001, the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court - BGH) reached five decisions of general principle concerning the admissibility of TV advice and consumer programmes. The defendants were various public and private TV broadcasters, who had broadcast certain legal information (concerning problems with holidays, for example), answered viewers' questions over the telephone or helped individual viewers to resolve legal disputes. The plaintiffs claimed that these programmes were in breach of the Rechtsberatungsgesetz (Legal Advice Act). Under the Act, legal advice may only be offered...