Search results : 1375

In a decision of 23 October 2013, the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court - BVerfG) rejected constitutional complaints about Article 32 of the Urheberrechtsgesetz (Copyright Act - UrhG). Article 32 UrhG enables the courts to control the fairness of remuneration for the granting of copyright for the use of a work by entitling authors to request a change to the level of remuneration. The claimant, a publishing firm, complained about this provision after being ordered to pay translators’ fees in two procedures before the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court - BGH). In the BGH’s...

In two parallel procedures, the Verwaltungsgericht Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Administrative Court - VG) ruled, in its decisions of 27 September 2013 (case nos. 27 K 5549/12 and 27 K 5665/12), that the provision of Article 18(4) of the Landesmediengesetz Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia Media Act - LMG) had not become inapplicable or redundant as a result of the switch to digital terrestrial broadcasting technology (DVB-T). According to Article 18(4) LMG, the Landesanstalt für Medien Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia Media Authority - LfM) must ensure that analogue cable networks...

According to media reports, in a decision taken in a file-sharing case on 7 October 2013, the Oberlandesgericht Köln (Cologne Appeal Court - OLG) granted a rightsholder’s right to information held by an Internet access provider (case no. 6 W 84/13). In the case concerned, the rightsholder had asserted a claim to information under the terms of Article 101(9) of the Urheberrechtsgesetz (Copyright Act - UrhG) in order to issue a warning to a file-sharer whose IP address it had previously tried to trace. According to the court, a right to information arose if there was a sufficient degree of certainty...

In a judgment of 16 October 2013, the Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Court of Appeal - OLG) decided that the so-called “Stolpe ruling” does not apply to hidden allegations. The dispute in the case at hand concerned what the plaintiff claimed was a negative impression created by reading “between the lines” of a report on an insolvency procedure. As far as these “hidden statements” were concerned, an injunction could only be granted against allegations under Articles 823(1) and 1004(1)(2) of the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (Civil Code) in conjunction with Articles 1(1) and 2(1) of the Grundgesetz...

In a ruling of 30 October 2013, the Landgericht Köln (Cologne District Court) decided that Deutsche Telekom AG was not allowed to cap transmission speeds when fixed-network Internet customers who had paid a “flat rate” subscription fee exceeded data limits. An action had been brought by the Verbraucherzentrale Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia consumer advice centre), which is authorised as an eligible institution under Articles 3 and 4 of the Unterlassungsklagengesetz (Injunctions Act - UKlaG) to bring actions concerning the use of invalid general terms and conditions. The court held...