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In a judgment of 27 February 2020 (Case C-240/18), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decided that the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) should issue a new decision on the application for registration of the word sign ‘Fack Ju Göthe’ as an EU trademark, which it had originally rejected. The Court ruled that the classification of the word sign as contrary to accepted principles of morality and therefore unsuitable for registration had been erroneous because insufficient account had been taken of the fact that this comedy film title would not be perceived...

On 15 January 2020, the Bundesministerium der Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz (Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection) tabled a bill implementing Directive (EU) 2019/790 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market, which was adopted on 17 April last year. The bill begins by addressing the protection of press publications with regard to online uses and the contribution of publishers, which form part of the EU copyright reforms. It explains the rights of publishers of press publications, as described in Article 15 of the Directive; contains rules on text and data...

In a decision of 20 January 2020, the Verwaltungsgericht Köln (Cologne Administrative Court) submitted a number of questions to the European Court of Justice concerning the interpretation of Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 and its provisions on net neutrality. The case concerns the ‘StreamOn’ service offered by the German mobile operator Telekom Deutschland GmbH in which the data transmission rates of some video streams are throttled. ‘StreamOn’ is a so-called zero-rating service that can be added to some of the mobile operator’s tariffs free of charge. The data...

In October 2019, the Bundesministerium der Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz (Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection) announced a bill designed to combat right-wing extremism and hate speech on the Internet (IRIS 2020-1:1/9). The Entwurf für ein Gesetz zur Bekämpfung des Rechtsextremismus und der Hasskriminalität (Draft Act to combat right-wing extremism and hate crime) was published on 18 December 2019. Among other things, the bill tightens the provisions of the Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz (Network Enforcement Act – NetzDG) that require social networks to...

Following an appeal by a politician and on the basis of her new submissions in the appeal proceedings and the court’s additional findings, the Landgericht Berlin (Berlin District Court), in a new ruling of 21 January 2020, partly amended its original decision of 9 September 2019 (see IRIS 2019-10:1/11) on the politician’s claim against the Facebook social media platform for the publication of user data. In its original decision, the Landgericht Berlin had rejected the well-known German politician’s request for information about users who had insulted her on the grounds that the...