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The Federal Court of Germany (Bundesgerichtshof) has endorsed a decision taken by the Regional Court (Landgericht) of Frankfurt on 6 July 1995 in which it stopped an advertisement and brochure campaign by the Italian clothing company Benetton. Three advertising themes were used in the case as a representation of the whole campaign. They portray an oil-soaked duck floating in an oil slick, hard working children in the Third World and unclothed parts of the human body bearing the stamp "H.I.V. Positive". The slogan "United Colors of Benetton" appears in the bottom right-hand corner of each advertisement...

The Federal Constitutional Court's (Bunderverfassunggericht) recent decision to allow radio and television coverage of its giving of reasons for judgments has given public and private television services something they have been asking for a long time. The decision is particularly welcome in view of the fact that the Federal and Land justice ministers unanimously confirmed, in mid-June, the Courts Act's prohibition on the recording or filming of court proceedings for public presentation on radio or television, the aim being to protect the personal rights of parties and ensure that the proceedings...

The Federal Court recently decided that the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of nationality, which is one of the fundamental principles of Community law (Judgment of the Court of the European Communities of 20 October 1993) did not apply to the resale rights (droits de suite) covered by Section 26 of the German Copyright Act. The case was brought by Bild-Kunst, a copyright exploitation company appointed by the widow and heiress of the artist, Joseph Beuys, who died on 23 Jauary 1986, to supervise rights - including resale rights - applying to his work under the Copyright Act. The plaintiff...

Over the last few months the regional media bodies have expressed their doubts over the efficiency of work carried out by the voluntary Television Review Body. This led to a preliminary meeting between the regional media bodies' Youth Protection And Programme Planning Working Party and representatives of the review body in Berlin on 7 June 1995. As was reported in IRIS 1995-3:7 and IRIS 1995-5:9, the review body carries out pre-broadcast examinations on television programmes offered by private channels. To save time, not all the programmes proposed by a television channel are assessed. Only those...

The German Association of Journalists has called upon the Federal Parliament to enact new regulations concerning copyright protection. According to the association, these regulations have been needed for a long time and have now taken on new meaning in the age of multimedia. Above all, journalists claim that it is time to improve the status of the freelance worker. The current business constraints mean that journalists are practically forced to use their work for any imaginable purpose. In their opinion, copyright law must set down inalienable regulations guaranteeing freelance journalists a financial...