Search results : 1507

The Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court - BGH) has again ruled on the admissibility of so-called "shock advertising" under competition law. In its judgment of 6 December 2001, it prevented the defendant, a press firm, from printing an advertisement for the Benetton company, depicting a person labelled as "HIV Positive", on the grounds that it was immoral within the meaning of Article 1 of the Gesetz zum Schutz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb (Unfair Competition Act - UWG) and was therefore unlawful. The BGH had reached the same verdict in a previous judgment of 6 July 1995 (I ZR 180/94)....

In the context of the regulations adopted recently with a view to the launching of digital terrestriallybroadcast television, Decree no. 2001-1331 of 28 December 2001 has now extended the scope of the decree of 27 March 1992 "laying down the general principles for the scheme applicable to advertising and sponsorship" to all television services however they are broadcast (analog or digital, unencrypted or onpayment from users). It is intended to apply also to services other than television services broadcast terrestrially in digital mode (cable, satellite, encrypted channels). A new Article 15-1...

The Spanish regulation relating to television advertising can be found in Chapter III of Act 25/1994 on the incorporation into Spanish law of the EC "Television without Frontiers" Directive. In 2001, the European Commission initiated infringement proceedings against Spain for its poor application of the provisions of Directive 89/552/EEC dealing with television advertising (see IRIS 2001-4: 3). The national authority in charge of applying those provisions, the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (Ministry for Science and Technology), considered that in order to enforce them properly, it was necessary...

The Landesmedienanstalten (regional media authorities), which monitor private broadcasting in Germany, have recently dealt with two cases concerning the ban on religious and political advertising. On 8 January 2002, the regional media authorities' Gemeinsame Stelle Werbung, Recht, Europa und Verwaltung (Joint Office for Advertising, Law, Europe and Administration) recommended that each of the regional media authorities, which are responsible for monitoring private broadcasters, should ban further broadcasts of advertisements for the book Kraft zum Leben ("Power for Living"), published by the American...

In two of its decisions the Unfair Trading Commission has ruled on some fundamental questions concerning advertising using electronic media. In an administrative decision dated 21 November 2001 the Commission declared spamming not to be legitimate where messages are sent without proof of an existing customer relationship. It stated that such spamming, i.e. the unsolicited sending of advertising e-mails when a customer relationship does not exist, represents an inadmissible `aggressive marketing technique' as understood in no. 4 (4) of the Principles of the Commission, and so is not legitimate in...