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On 11 November 2013, the Austrian Bundeskommunikationssenat (Federal Communications Board - BKS) decided that an app launched by the Austrian public broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) dedicated to the Alpine World Ski Championships in Schladming was illegal. The app enabled users to access data about the championships via mobile devices. In line with the first-instance decision of the Kommunikationsbehörde Austria (Austrian Communications Authority - KommAustria), against which ORF had appealed, the BKS ruled that the app constituted a “service specifically for mobile devices”. Under the...

In a new judgment on the right of access to public documents, the Strasbourg Court has further clarified and expanded the scope of the application of Article 10 of the Convention. The applicant in this case is an NGO, the Austrian association for the preservation, strengthening and creation of an economically sound agricultural and forestry land ownership (OVESSG). In 2005 the association twice requested the Tyrol Real Property Transaction Commission, which is responsible for approving agricultural and forest land transactions, to provide OVESSG with the decisions the Commission had issued over...

In a recently published decision of 11 September 2013, the Austrian Bundeskommunikationssenat (Federal Communications Board - BKS) ruled on the distinction between sponsor references and product placement. In the case at hand, the Austrian public broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) had displayed the logo of the Austrian daily newspaper “Kurier” to the right of the match clock on several occasions during a football match when the match score had been shown. The regulator, KommAustria, had considered the appearance of the advertising logo as a sponsor reference prohibited under Article 17(1)...

In his opinion of 26 November 2013, the Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), in Case C-314/12, considered that a court injunction requiring an Internet access provider to block certain websites that infringed copyright did not breach EU law. In the dispute between Austrian access provider UPC Telekabel and the companies Constantin Film Verleih GmbH and Wega Filmproduktionsgesellschaft GmbH, the Austrian Supreme Court had referred the matter to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling. The essential question concerned the interpretation of Article 8(3) of Directive 2001/29/EC...

In a decision of 23 July 2013, the Austrian Bundeskommunikationssenat (Federal Communications Board - BKS) clarified the requirements for the proper labelling of split-screen advertising on television. In the case at hand, the television broadcaster PULS 4 had broadcast two split-screen advertising spots that were spatially separated from the programme material (in this case: written programme announcements), with the word “Werbung” (advertising) appearing directly next to the broadcaster’s logo in the top left-hand corner of the screen. The regulatory body, KommAustria, had considered this to...