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In a decision published on 18 October 2010, the Austrian broadcasting authority, the Bundeskommunikationssenat (Federal Communications Senate - BKS), declared its position on the difference between an advertising spot and a public information broadcast. The procedure followed a complaint about the broadcast of a 20-second spot by the Austrian workers’ association on Österreichische Rundfunk (Austrian public broadcaster - ORF), which labelled it as a “public information broadcast”. In the spot, the workers’ association dealt with some topical political themes and criticised possible tax reforms...

FISA (Filmstandort Austria), the new Austrian film aid system (see IRIS 2010-7: 1/5) based on the Deutsche Filmförderfonds (German Film Fund - DFFF), has begun to operate. Applications, which can be submitted online, have been accepted since 16 August 2010. Applications can only cover costs incurred since 1 July 2010. They are processed by the Bundesministerium für Finanzen (Ministry of Finance), with the help of the Austrian Wirtschaftsservice GmbH (AWS) and Location Austria. The application process comprises two stages. In the first two-week phase, the admissibility of the application, including...

According to media reports, the Bezirksgericht für Handelssachen (District Commercial Court) in Vienna ordered Österreichischer Rundfunk (Austrian broadcasting corporation - ORF) to pay compensation after finding it guilty of discriminating against the disabled at the end of September 2010. The plaintiff in the case concerned, a deaf man, had purchased a DVD produced by ORF in 2009, but had not been able to understand it because it had not contained subtitles. Represented in the proceedings by the Austrian Klagsverband zur Durchsetzung der Rechte von Diskriminierungsopfern (association for the...

On 26 July 2010, the Austrian Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology tabled a new draft amendment to the 2003 Telekommunikationsgesetz (Telecommunications Act - TKG), under which the data retention obligations set out in Data Retention Directive 2006/24/EC would be transposed into Austrian law. The 16-page document takes into account almost 190 comments received by the ministry after the bill was published in autumn 2009 (see IRIS 2010-2: 1/4). The most significant changes are a provision on data protection for persons required to keep professional secrets and the extension of access...

The legal basis of the current copyright law in Austria is the Bundesgesetz über das Urheberrecht an Werken der Literatur und der Kunst und über verwandte Schutzrechte (Urheberrechtsgesetz) (Federal law on copyright in literary works, works of art and related rights - the “Copyright Act”). The task of the Copyright Act is to protect works in the fields of literature, sound and music, art and cinematography and to enable the pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests of the copyright holders and holders of neighbouring rights to be asserted. Copyright comes about when a creator produces a work (section...