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At its sitting on 27 January 2016, the Landtag (parliament) of North Rhine-Westphalia passed a new law providing for changes for the public service broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). The law provides a new overall plan to strengthen the public service broadcasting system and safeguard the diversity of media reporting. The law defines the remit of WDR and lays down its institutional structure. For example, the broadcaster is given a clear mandate for the organisation of information and communication services (Telemedien) and Internet content, with the aim of ensuring its future in the digital...

The Oberlandesgericht München (Munich Regional Court) held, in a judgment of 28 January 2016 (Case 29 U 2798/15), that the online video portal YouTube cannot be held liable for breaches of copyright committed via the platform. The case comprised an action for damages brought against YouTube by the music performing rights society GEMA. For many years, GEMA has been demanding licence fees from YouTube for the use of music in the videos on its platform. YouTube refuses to pay, which GEMA considers unreasonable, especially in view of the advertising revenues generated by YouTube. It claims that YouTube...

The operator of the search engine Google can be held liable for breaches of the law on third-party websites displayed in search results. The precondition for this is that Google has been informed about the breach and has nevertheless not taken any suitable measures to block the content accessed via the search engine. This was the ruling of the Landgericht Köln (Cologne Regional Court) in a judgment of 16 September 2015 (Case 28 O 14/14). In the case at issue, a married couple were confronted with insults in an Internet forum. Among other things, it was claimed that they operated websites with morally...

The 19. Rundfunkänderungsstaatsvertrag (19th Amendment to the Inter-State Broadcasting Agreement - RÄStV) was signed on 3 December 2015. The Länder heads of government decided to adopt the amendment, which focuses on youth programmes and youth media, at their annual conference on 8/9 October 2015. Desspite the fears of a licence fee-funded distortion of competition expressed by the Verband Privater Rundfunk und Telemedien (Association of Commercial Broadcasters and Telemedia - VPRT), the signing of the agreement paves the way for the online-based range of youth programmes planned by ARD and ZDF....

After three years of negotiations, the public service broadcasters ARD and ZDF have renegotiated the “Framework Agreement on contractual co-operation on joint film/television productions and comparable cinema co-productions” with the Allianz Deutscher Produzenten - Film & Fernsehen (Alliance of German Producers - Film & Television, or Producers’ Alliance). The Producers’ Alliance is an independent association representing the interests of German producers of audiovisual works. It represents around 230 members, which makes it the largest association of its kind in Germany. The agreement lays down...