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In a judgment of 29 March 2011, the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice - BGH) ruled that the German courts had no international jurisdiction in proceedings concerning a violation of personality rights resulting from an internet publication. The plaintiff is a Russian national with residences in Germany and Russia. The defendant, a former fellow pupil of the plaintiff, lives in the United States. After a class reunion in Moscow, at which the two parties were present, the defendant wrote an article in which, among other things, she described the plaintiff’s appearance and lifestyle. The...

In the context of a final appeal of points of law, the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice - BGH) recently dealt with the scope of, and limits to, the so-called “media privilege (Medienprivileg), which defines the relationship between data protection and freedom of speech. In its judgment of 1 February 2011, the BGH gave media and press freedom priority over the interests claimed by the plaintiff. The case had been brought by one of the two murderers of the actor Walter Sedlmayr who had been sentenced to life imprisonment (see also IRIS 2010-2/9). He had been released on parole in January...

The European Commission has finished the preliminary analysis of the measures implementing the Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) Directive into national law notified by 16 Member States: Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. Subsequently, the European Commission has sent fact-finding letters to these states inquiring about these implementing measures. The Commission is thus seeking to ensure that all provisions of the AVMS Directive have been correctly transposed into...

With the votes of the ruling coalition, the German Bundestag (lower house of parliament) adopted the Gesetz zur Regelung von De-Mail-Diensten und zur Änderung weiterer Vorschriften (Act on the regulation of “De-Mail” services and amending other provisions) on 24 February 2011. The creation of the “De-Mail” e-mail service is designed to enable German citizens to send messages via the Internet in a secure, reliable and verifiable way with a single user account. Use of “De-Mail” is optional for citizens. Service providers can charge fees for carrying “De-Mails”, although the cost must be significantly...

On 18 February 2011 the Minister of Culture of the Slovak Republic (SR) welcomed representatives of the Executive Board of the International Press Institute (hereinafter: “IPI Executive Board”) to a meeting, the aim of which was to provide the latter with information on developments in the Slovak media sector. These developments particularly concern the Draft Bill amending Act No. 167/2008 Coll. on Periodicals and News Agency Services and the Amendment and Supplementing of Certain Acts (hereinafter referred to as “Press Act“; see IRIS 2008-5/29), the Act No. 308/2000 Coll. on Broadcasting and Retransmission...