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In a judgment of 18 November 2021, the 1st civil chamber of the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court – BGH), whose field of jurisdiction includes competition law, decided that residential tenancy agreements can bind a tenant to a paid broadband cable connection, provided by a landlord, for the entire duration of the agreement. The proceedings had been instigated by the Zentrale zur Bekämpfung unlauteren Wettbewerbs (Office Against Unfair Competition) against a landlord with more than 120 000 rental properties, around 108 000 of which are connected to a cable television network...

The media policy section of the coalition agreement signed by Germany’s new ‘traffic light’ coalition parties, i.e. the SPD (Social Democratic Party), Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (Alliance 90/The Greens) and the FDP (Free Democratic Party), begins by highlighting the indispensability of free, independent media at public and private levels in a democracy, no doubt in response to an increase in defamatory statements linked to the refugee and coronavirus crises in Germany, as well as undesirable recent developments in EU member states, such as Poland and Hungary. This matter...

On 22 October 2021, the heads of the governments of the German Länder adopted the draft 2. Medienänderungsstaatsvertrag (second amendment to the state media treaty – 2. MÄndStV), known as the Barrierefreiheitsstaatsvertrag (state accessibility treaty), which transposes Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services, and therefore strengthens the provisions of the Medienstaatsvertrag (state media treaty – MStV) to protect people with disabilities from discrimination. The...

In a ruling of 6 July 2021 (case no. KZR 11/18), the Kartellsenat (Cartel Division) of the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court – BGH) decided that a public service broadcaster’s failure to pay feed-in fees to a cable network operator breached the anti-discrimination rules of the Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen (Act Against Restraints of Competition – GWB) and therefore created a compensation liability if (and because) payments were made to other cable network operators. In a previous case, the BGH followed an action brought by a cable network operator to the...

On 1 October 2021, new rules establishing an appeal procedure for social networks and video-sharing platform services entered into force in Germany. The rules were introduced as part of the latest reform of the Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz (Network Enforcement Act – NetzDG) under the Gesetz zur Änderung des Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetzes (Act to Amend the Network Enforcement Act) of 3 June 2021. For video-sharing platform services, the appeal procedure has been applicable to user-generated videos and programmes since 28 June 2021. Since 1 October 2021, as well as social networks, video-sharing...