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In a ruling of 14 March 2013 (case no. 31 O 466/12), the Landgericht Köln (Cologne District Court) rejected the action filed by the cable network operator Kabel Deutschland AG for confirmation that the content supply agreement concerning the television programmes of the public service broadcasters ARD and ZDF remained valid. The cable operator claimed that the cancellation of the agreement was invalid. The plaintiff is a national broadband cable network operator. For two decades, it has transmitted television programmes, including those of the public service broadcasters, via its cable networks...

In a judgment of 11 April 2013, the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court - BGH) ruled on the case between RTL and Sat.1 on one side and the online video recording services Shift.tv and Save.tv on the other. The BGH decided that the two online video recorders had infringed the television broadcasters’ right to retransmit their programmes, as enshrined in Article 87(1)(1) of the Urheberrechtsgesetz (Copyright Act - UrhG). This question had not been conclusively answered in the ruling of the Oberlandesgericht Dresden (Dresden Appeal Court - OLG) of 12 July 2011 (case no. 14 U 801/07, see IRIS...

According to media reports, the discussion of the Federal Government’s “anti-scam bill” was taken off the agenda of the cabinet meeting on 6 February 2013. It is thought that recent criticism has triggered a further need for consultation. The current ministerial bill contains a series of provisions designed to prohibit certain practices relating to the mass distribution of warning letters, particularly concerning copyright infringements, as well as shady business models used by telesales firms and collection agencies. For example, subscriptions or competition entries completed over the telephone...

According to media reports, in a ruling of 5 December 2012 (case no. 28 O 403/12), the Landgericht Köln (Cologne District Court) upheld a temporary injunction (decision of 13 September 2012) preventing a TV broadcaster from reporting on a drug test carried out by traffic police on a famous actor. The traffic police carried out the check because they had noticed that the actor’s eyes appeared to be red. They therefore conducted a drug test, which proved negative. The incident was reported in a TV programme, which mentioned the actor’s name. The court ruled that it was unlawful to identify the actor...

According to media reports, on 22 January 2013, the Bundesverwaltungsgericht (Federal Administrative Court - BVerwG) upheld the appeal lodged by the Bayerische Landeszentrale für neue Medien (Bavarian New Media Office - BLM) against a decision denying it leave to appeal. In so doing, the BVerwG quashed the ruling of the Bayerische Verwaltungsgerichtshof (Bavarian Administrative Court - BayVGH) on the planned takeover of ProSiebenSat.1 by Axel Springer AG and allowed an appeal on the grounds of the fundamental importance of the case under Article 132(2)(1) of the Verwaltungsgerichtsordnung (Administrative...