Search results : 1348

According to an inspection of 14 video and music streaming services by the Bundesverband der Verbraucherzentrale (Federation of German Consumer Organisations - vzbv), a total of 130 of the general terms and conditions used by the service providers were unlawful because they put consumers at an unreasonable disadvantage. The vzbv has announced that it has so far cautioned 20 operators including Napster, Watchever, Spotify, Simfy and Amazon. As well as clauses restricting users’ warranty rights or operators’ liability, the vzbv questioned the operators’ right to block or withdraw their services at...

In a ruling of 29 April 2014, the Oberverwaltungsgericht Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate Administrative Appeal Court - OVG) decided that an insert used to introduce a commercial break infringed rules on the separation of TV programmes and advertisements because it contained a programme announcement. During a break between two early evening programmes, TV broadcaster SAT.1 had broadcast inserts that included the word “Werbung” (advertising). The inserts also contained programme announcements for a boxing match and the programme “The Voice of Germany”. The Landeszentrale für Medien und Kommunikation...

In a decision of 20 May 2014, which is not yet final and has not been published in full, the Oberlandesgericht Koblenz (Koblenz Appeal Court - OLG) ruled that a partner’s consent to the storage of intimate photographs and film footage is limited to the duration of the relationship (case no. 3 U 1288/13). During a relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant, who is a photographer, a large number of photographs of the plaintiff were taken with her consent. They included intimate pictures, some of which the plaintiff had taken herself and given to the defendant in digitised form. After the...

On 14 May 2014, the Oberlandesgericht Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe Appeal Court - OLG) ruled, in a decision yet to be published in full, that the Bild newspaper, by publishing a photograph of a famous footballer in which a woman appeared by chance in the background, infringed the woman’s own image rights under Article 22 of the Kunsturhebergesetz (Art Copyright Act - KUG) and, at the same time, breached her general right to privacy under Article 823(1) of the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (Civil Code - BGB). The disputed photograph was published in 2012 in an article about a robbery committed against the footballer...

In a ruling of 13 May 2014, which has not yet been published in full, the Verfassungsgerichtshof Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate Constitutional Court) decided that the new regulations on the financing of public service broadcasting through the levying of broadcasting charges did not infringe the provisions of the Constitution (case no. VGH B 35/12; regarding the introduction of the new broadcasting charge in Germany, see IRIS 2012-2/14). A complaint lodged by the Montabaur-based road construction firm Volkmann und Rossbach, which has numerous branches both in Rhineland-Palatinate and elsewhere,...