Search results : 1348

In a ruling of 17 August 2017, the OLG München (Munich Court of Appeal) decided that open source software used to block advertising on websites did not infringe cartel law, any other kind of competition law or copyright law (case no. 29 U 1917/16). The plaintiffs in the case at hand operate free websites with journalistic content that are financed through advertising. The defendant distributes free open source software that can block advertising on websites. The details of which content is blocked by the software are not initially provided; rather, this information is found in the form of so-called...

Sat.1 SatellitenFernsehen GmbH has successfully submitted an urgent application to the Verwaltungsgericht Neustadt (Neustadt Administrative Court - VG Neustadt) against a licensing decision of the Rhineland-Palatinate regional media authority, the Landeszentrale für Medien und Kommunikation (LMK), which had been declared immediately enforceable. In a decision of 14 July 2017, the court reinstated the suspensive effect of the appeal against the LMK’s decision. The case concerned the question of whether Sat.1 was obliged to allocate airtime to independent third parties. On 13 February 2017, the LMK...

On 3 May 2017, the Bundeskabinett (Federal Cabinet) adopted the draft Fourth Amendment of the Telecommunications Act (TKG-RefE), which is designed to promote radio digitisation. Article 48 of the Telecommunications Act (TKG) is expanded under the draft, with the new Article 48(4) TKG-RefE stipulating that every new reception device made available for sale, rental or distribution by other means, if it is primarily intended for the reception of radio broadcasts and can display the name of the radio station, must be equipped with at least one interface that meets recognised technological standards...

A complaint by pay-TV provider Sky concerning an order issued by the Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartels Office) in relation to the auctioning of live Bundesliga rights has been rejected by the OLG Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Regional Court of Appeal). In order to create legal certainty for the future, Sky had disputed the instructions laid down by the Federal Cartels Office for the German Football League tender procedure in 2016. The Federal Cartels Office issued a “no single buyer” rule, which means that, from next season, Bundesliga matches will be broadcast live not only by Sky, but also by Eurosport...

Since June 2015, the Commission for the Protection of Minors in the Media (KJM), an organ of the federal states media authorities in Germany, has approved several solutions for the age verification (AVS submodule) of German companies for closed user groups in telemedia. These include the modules "IDnow Video Ident" of IDnow GmbH from Munich and "Postident by Videochat" of Deutsche Post AG, but also the "DE-Mail" system of 1 & 1 De-Mail GmbH. Due to the Interstate Treaty on the Protection of Minors (JMStV), pornographic content, certain listed (indexed) content and content which obviously seriously...