Search results : 1372

In a ruling of 25 March 2014, the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court - BVerfG) decided that the provisions of the Staatsvertrag über das Zweite Deutsche Fernsehen (Inter-State Agreement on Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen - ZDF-StV) on the composition of the supervisory bodies breached Article 5(1)(2)(2) of the Grundgesetz (Basic Law - GG) in several respects and were therefore unconstitutional. The ruling explained that the basic right of broadcasting freedom (Article 5(1)(2)(2) GG) required that a system should be established that ensured that the diversity of opinions was presented...

In two decisions of 5 March 2014 (5 L 753/13.NW and 5 L 694/13.NW), which have not yet been published in full, the 5th Chamber of the Verwaltungsgericht Neustadt an der Weinstraße (Neustadt an der Weinstraße Administrative Court) partially granted the applications of Sat.1 SatellitenFernsehen GmbH and N24 Media GmbH for temporary legal protection against the allocation of transmission time for independent third parties (so-called third-party transmission time) on the main Sat.1 channel. Sat.1 remains obliged, at least temporarily, to broadcast the third-party programmes in full. According to the...

In a ruling of 15 January 2014 (case no. 7 O 82/13), the Landgericht Saarbrücken (Saarbrücken Regional Court) ruled that a domain name registrar is obliged, if it has received a clear report of a copyright infringement, to examine and, if necessary, block the website concerned. A German storage media manufacturer had filed an action against an internationally active domain name registrar. In return for payment, the registrar registers and manages top-level domains, including “.com”, both directly and via resellers from all over the world. In August 2013, the plaintiff claimed that a music album...

According to media reports, the Landgericht München (Munich Regional Court - LG) issued a ruling on 25 February 2014, banning Google subsidiary YouTube from continuing to use its blocked content messages. In doing so, it granted a request for an injunction submitted in the first instance by the Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte (society for musical performance and mechanical reproduction rights - GEMA). One of the messages displayed when users try to download certain videos says (in German): “Unfortunately, this video is not available in Germany,...

In a decision of 19 December 2013, the Landgericht Hamburg (Hamburg Regional Court - LG) issued a temporary order, preventing the company “The Archive AG” from continuing to issue warnings, in their current form, to RedTube users (see also IRIS 2014-1/19). On the one hand, the warnings influenced the relationship between RedTube and its customers, thereby violating the streaming portal’s right to carry on its trade. On the other, the warnings in their current form were unlawful because their wording was too vague. For example, they simply demanded that users refrain from watching a film, the rights...