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In order to provide radio and television in hotel rooms, hoteliers will now have to pay a lump-sum fee to the Company for Musical Performances and Mechanical Reproduction Rights (Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte - GEMA). GEMA will operate on the basis of the Assertion of Copyright Act, under the supervision of the Chairman of the German Patent Office. Its constitutional purpose as a performing rights society is to protect copyright-holders and assert their rights. In relations between persons who perform or reproduce works protected by copyright...

By a judgment delivered on 11 December 1997 the Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof - BGH) prohibited the centralised marketing of football transmission rights by the German Football Federation (DFB) (see IRIS 1998-1: 7). In a speech on 19 December 1997 presenting the sixth version of the Act against Restrictions on Competition (Gesetz gegen Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen - GWB) to the Federal Council (Bundesrat), the German Minister for the Economy expressed doubts about making sport a special case in competition law by amending the GWB. The Minister believed this would lead to a sectorialisation...

The discussion of measures to safeguard the live transmission of major (sports) events on German public television (see IRIS 1997-10: 7 and IRIS 1997-7: 15) took a new turn in mid-December, when the Minister-Presidents of the Länder agreed to make use of the possibilities offered by Article 3 a of the EC's revised "Television without Frontiers" Directive and draw up a list of events of major public importance. An attempt had initially been made to negotiate a voluntary agreement with the rights-holders, and particularly the Kirch Group. However, when the outcome of a meeting between media representatives...

The Telecommunications and Consumer Protection Order (Telekommunikations-Kundenschutzverordnung - TKV) was finally approved by the Federal Government on 9 December 1997. Following liberalisation of the telecommunications market and the abolition of monopolies, the TKV lays down general conditions for the use of telecommunications services, including the rights and obligations of service providers and users, the conclusion of contracts, entitlement to services and liability. The TKV allows users to keep their telephone numbers when they change service providers, as long as they remain in the same...

In a judgment delivered at the end of January, the Court of Appeal (Oberlandesgericht - OLG) in Karlsruhe has ordered a manufacturer of dairy products to pay damages amounting to DEM 155,000 to a singer on the grounds of infringement of his personality rights. In a commercial for its products, the company first showed an actor dressed in Russian costume, then a well-known actor and entertainer. Whereas in the second case the artist himself did indeed announce the advertisement and was paid the amount he claimed for his participation in the commercial, the first part unfortunately showed an impersonation...