Search results : 1366

In a ruling of 18 October 2018 (case VG 27 L 364.18), the Verwaltungsgericht Berlin (Berlin Administrative Court - VG) upheld an emergency application from a publisher that sells the Bild newspaper and operates several Internet video services on the Bild website against a prohibition order issued by the Medienanstalt Berlin-Brandenburg (Berlin-Brandenburg media authority - mabb), which is responsible for monitoring broadcasting in the region. After a summary examination of the factual and legal elements of the case, in which the publisher’s interest in suspending the order was weighed against the...

In a judgment of 13 September 2018 (I ZR 117/15), the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court - BGH) decided that neither a video channel operated for promotional purposes on the YouTube Internet platform nor a video available on that channel constitute an audiovisual media service in the sense of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD - 2010/13/EU). In the specific case heard by the BGH, this meant that a video advertising new cars on a YouTube promotional channel had to contain information on the vehicles’ official fuel consumption and CO² emissions because the relevant obligation in...

On 26 November 2018, the EU Commission initiated proceedings for infringement of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union against 17 member states for non-compliance with the Directive requiring the transposition into national law of the Marrakesh Treaty (Directive (EU) 2017/1564) (see IRIS 2017-9/4 and IRIS 2016-9/4). The Marrakesh Treaty is a WIPO-administered convention that was signed on 27 June 2013 and entered into force on 30 September 2016, after the first 20 ratifications. The Treaty facilitates access to print works in formats adapted for persons who are blind, visually impaired...

In a new judgment with regard to Internet content, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found that a criminal conviction for insult was a justified interference with the right to freedom of expression as guaranteed under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The case of Annen (No. 6) v. Germany concerns a conviction for posting a press release on the Internet and distributing leaflets with insulting statements about a German professor at the University of Bonn, professor B., who was conducting embryonic stem cell research. Annen is a campaigner against abortion and...

On 20 September 2018, a week after issuing its YouTube decision (IRIS 2018-9/10), the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court – BGH) decided to refer a similar set of questions to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) concerning the liability of a shared web hosting service for copyright infringements (Case no. I ZR 53/17 – Uploaded). The case follows a dispute between book and music publishers and the shared hosting service Uploaded, which offers free storage space for anyone to upload files that can, in principle, be downloaded free of charge by other users. Registered users can pay for higher...