Search results : 1348

In a decision of 14 December 2017, the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court - BGH) rejected an application for permission to appeal filed by Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) concerning the long-running proceedings relating to the Tagesschau app. The case concerned the nature of the Tagesschau app on a specific date: 15 June 2011. The plaintiffs are publishing companies that sell newspapers in printed form and/or as Internet- and app-based services. Their argument against the providers of the Tagesschau app, the ARD, and NDR in particular, was that the app was too ‘press-like’. The case was initially...

On 19 October 2017, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered its judgment in the case of Fuchsmann v. Germany, which concerned the online version of a New York Times article accessible in Germany. The applicant in the case is an internationally active entrepreneur in the media sector, and holds the position of Vice-President of the World Jewish Congress. In June 2001, the New York Times published an article about an investigation into corruption against R.L. The article was entitled “[L] Media Company Faces a Federal Inquiry”, and included the statements that the applicant had “ties...

The Gesetz zur Verbesserung der Rechtsdurchsetzung in sozialen Netzwerken (Act to improve law enforcement in social networks - NetzDG) entered into force on 1 October 2017. The new law is designed to force social networks to deal more quickly and more comprehensively with complaints, in particular from users, about hate speech and other criminal content. The act applies to social networks defined in Section 1(1)(1) NetzDG as telemedia service providers which, for profit-making purposes, operate Internet platforms designed to enable users to share any content with other users or to make such content...

In a case against Germany, two media companies - Axel Springer SE, a publishing house, and RTL, a broadcasting company - complained about a restriction on publishing pictures of the accused (S.) in a brutal murder case. S. was charged with killing his parents, dismembering their bodies, burning some of the parts, flushing others down the toilet and disposing of the rest by putting them in barrels. S. had already confessed to the police, while a psychiatric expert opinion ordered for the trial had concluded that S. was suffering from a schizoid personality disorder at the time when he had committed...

According to media reports, the LG Hamburg (Hamburg District Court) granted an injunction on 7 August 2017, preventing ARD’s Panorama magazine programme from rebroadcasting footage that had been exclusively shown in a G20 documentary by Spiegel TV (case no. 308 O 287/17). The case concerned a report entitled ‘Ein verhängnisvoller Abend’ (A fateful evening), broadcast during an episode of NDR’s Panorama magazine programme devoted to police violence during the G20 summit. The report had contained footage previously broadcast and exclusively owned by Spiegel TV. NDR had shown the footage even though...