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On 13 February 2020, the German Bundesministerium der Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz (Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection) published a draft law designed to create a legal framework for free recommendations by influencers and bloggers. The ministry intends to make it clear that comments on products made by influencers on social media free of charge and primarily for information and opinion-forming purposes do not need to be labelled as advertising. The proposed regulations were drafted following several court decisions in recent years in which the commercial nature of...

On 7 February 2020, the German Bundesländer of Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern jointly submitted an “Entwurf eines Gesetzes zur Änderung des Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetzes zum Zweck der Erleichterung der Identifizierbarkeit im Internet für eine effektivere Bekämpfung und Verfolgung von Hasskriminalität“ (Draft act amending the Network Enforcement Act in order to facilitate identification on the Internet to combat and prosecute hate crime more effectively) to the German Bundesrat (upper house of parliament). Their main objective is to make it easier to...

In January 2020, after lengthy negotiations, the German Bundesländer reached an agreement on a new system of regulation for gambling in Germany, reflected in a draft Staatsvertrag zur Neuregulierung des Glücksspielwesens in Deutschland (Inter-State Agreement on a New System of Regulation for Gambling in Germany – Glücksspielneuregulierungsstaatsvertrag, GlüNeuRStV). The reforms particularly address the admissibility of various types of Internet-based gambling and the related fields of advertising, the protection of minors and the protection of gamblers.  Under current...

The culture and media working groups of the German Parliament’s CDU/CSU and SPD coalition partners have published the key points of their joint proposal to amend the German Filmförderungsgesetz (Film Support Act – FFG). The reforms are primarily designed to protect the long-term future of the German film industry and strengthen German filmmaking as an economic and cultural asset. The cinema sector is at the heart of the envisaged changes. The reforms will be based on changes to eligibility criteria, the distribution of support, funding mechanisms and the structure of the Filmförderanstalt...

In a decision of 20 February 2020, the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court – BGH) determined how much revenue from television broadcasts should be paid to the chief cameraman of the film ‘Das Boot’ (Case no. I ZR 176/18). The plaintiff in the case at hand had worked as chief cameraman on the film ‘Das Boot’ in the early 1980s, for which he had been paid a fee equivalent to EUR 104 303.54 by the production company. The film was exploited internationally in cinemas and on television, as well as on video and DVD. The plaintiff claimed additional remuneration of...