Search results : 1094

In a ruling of 8 January 2014 (case no. I ZR 1169/12), the first civil chamber of the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court - BGH) decided that parents were not liable for copyright infringements committed by their grown-up children if they had no actual knowledge of the offences. The plaintiffs, four major German record producers, had taken court action against the defendant. According to the charge, the defendant’s 20-year old stepson had made around 3,750 music files available via online filesharing sites in 2006. The rightsholders had written to the stepfather, demanding lawyers’ and caution...

In a ruling of 12 December 2013 (case no. I ZR 192/12), the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Supreme Court - BGH) decided that linking a competition to the sale of sweets in a television advertisement was admissible, provided the diligence requirement set out in Article 3(2)(3) of the Gesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb (Unfair Competition Act - UWG) did not apply, since the advertisement was aimed not only at minors. The case concerned a TV commercial for a competition in which customers had to purchase the advertised sweets in order to take part. The advertisement showed the presenter Thomas Gottschalk...

On 27 January 2014 the Audiovisual Media Authority (AMA) approved the Broadcasting Code for audiovisual media operators. According to the regulator, the Code is meant “as a step to further complete the legal and sublegal framework for the monitoring and controlling of radio and television stations’ activity.” The Broadcasting Code further specifies the guiding principles regarding content of audiovisual media laid out in the Act on Audiovisual Media No. 97/2013 approved in March 2013 (see IRIS 2013-8/9). More specifically, the Code tackles in detail the guiding content-related principles for audiovisual...

The Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (national commission for markets and competition - CNMC) was created by Act No. 3/2013, which was adopted on 4 June 2013. The commission combines functions involving the smooth running of the markets and sectors which until now have been controlled by various authorities with responsibility for the sectors of energy, the telecoms market, competition, the railways, the postal sector, airports, and the audiovisual media. These attributions have earned it the nickname of "super-regulato"r (superregulador). The Council of the CNMC is its decision-making...

In a ruling of 19 September 2013 (case no. 7 B 12.2358), the Bayerische Verwaltungsgerichtshof (Bavarian Administrative Court - BayVGH) overturned a decision of the Bayerische Landeszentrale für Medien (Bavarian New Media Authority - BLM), prohibiting a media company from operating its (entire) erotic teletext service on pages 600-900 between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. The ban had been imposed following an examination of the service by an inspection team appointed by the Kommission für Jugendmedienschutz (Commission for the protection of young people in the media - KJM). The inspection team,...