Helmut Kohl book may be distributed!

The former Federal Chancellor Dr. Helmut Kohl has failed before the Regional Court (LG) Cologne with an application for the issuance of a preliminary injunction to stop the publication of the book "Vermächtnis. Die Kohl-Protokolle" based on the audio recordings discussed by him.

Helmut Kohl has initially failed in his attempt to stop the further distribution of the controversial book "Vermächtnis. Die Kohl-Protokolle". As several media sources consistently report, the Regional Court (LG) Cologne has rejected an urgent application from Kohl's lawyers.

In an earlier decision, the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Cologne had condemned the author of the book withjudgment of 01.08.2014, Az. 6 U 20/14, to hand over the audio recordings that he had recorded with the former Chancellor over many years (we reported).

Court's Decision

The decision of the Regional Court (LG) Cologne is not yet available. However, it can be assumed that the urgent application of Kohl's lawyers was directed at the violation of his general personality rights. In the proceedings mentioned above, Kohl had asserted a copyright claim for the surrender of the Kohl-Protokolle, since he had become the author of these by recording the tapes.

In the present case, however, LG Köln had to weigh thepersonality rights of the former politician against the information interest of the public derived from thefreedom of the press. This balancing has quite evidently decided in favour of freedom of the press given the status of Dr. Helmut Kohl as a person of contemporary history.

Conclusion

The decision of the Regional Court (LG) Cologne appears – albeit without the reasons being available – comprehensible. The authors of the book "Vermächtnis. Die Kohl-Protokolle" are Tilman Jens and Heribert Schwan, who had recorded the audio tapes with Kohl, so that copyright claims were not in question.

The general personality rights of a public figure had to recede in the balancing in the present case against his right to privacy, especially in view of the fact that the recordings were made for the purpose of publication. Therefore, in our assessment, the appeal lodged by Kohl's lawyers against the first instance decision will also be unsuccessful.