News
975 articles
16 July 2015
Panorama freedom under threat?
German copyright law permits any person to take exterior photographs, graphics and paintings of copyright-protected works that are located on public roads, streets or squares. This panorama freedom also allows anyone commercial use of these photographs. Does the EU Parliament now want to change this?
Read more14 July 2015
Permissibility of reporting on suspicion?
Is it permissible for a publisher to report on a criminal investigation by a public prosecution office against a dentist if the accused is not named but is easily identifiable on the basis of the details provided? The Higher Regional Court (OLG) Karlsruhe dealt with the legal question of the limits of identifying reporting.
Read more03 July 2015
No 'du' form in online games?
Does every use of the 'du' form when addressing users in an online game also constitute anti-competitive advertising to children? The Regional Court (LG) Berlin had to decide on this legal question.
Read more29 June 2015
Violation of the right of personality by bikini photograph?
Is the Bild newspaper permitted to publish a photograph on which a non-prominent person, who happened to be in the vicinity of a prominent person, is identifiably depicted, or does this violate the general right of personality of the person depicted? The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) had to decide this in a case in which a woman in a bikini was photographed in the vicinity of a professional footballer.
Read more27 June 2015
"Grexit" registered as a trademark!
The (non-)word "Grexit", a neologism derived from the English terms "Greece" and "Exit", is on everyone's lips due to Greece's current situation. Now an entrepreneur has had the word "Grexit" registered as a trademark with the German Patent and Trade Mark Office, among other things for alcoholic beverages.
Read more23 June 2015
Condoms "Made in Germany"?
Is a manufacturer permitted to advertise its product with the quality seal "Made in Germany" if only part of the manufacturing steps are carried out in Germany, or does this constitute unfair and misleading commercial practice? The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) had to decide this dispute between two condom manufacturers in the final instance.
Read more16 June 2015
ProSiebenSat1 cannot prevent ad blockers!
Is the use and distribution of ad blocker software anticompetitive and does it infringe the property rights of a TV broadcaster as an act of copyright exploitation? The media company ProSiebenSat1 Media AG held this legal view and filed a cease-and-desist action against the software company Eyeo GmbH.
Read more15 June 2015
New File-Sharing Decisions on the Burden of Pleading?
The BearShare decision of the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) (as we reported) left no doubt that the warned account holder must present his argument within the scope of his secondary burden of pleading only plausibly, but that a burden of proof reversal is expressly not to take place. How far this burden of pleading should extend has since then – in addition to the amount of an appropriate licence damage – repeatedly been the central […]
Read more12 June 2015
Covert filming in Switzerland
Covert filming has become a common means in the German television landscape to expose abuses and bring them to public attention. In Switzerland, such action by four journalists led to a criminal conviction, whose lawfulness the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) had to address.
Read more11 June 2015
Trade mark 'Wanderhure' (The Wandering Prostitute) – immoral?
Is the sign 'Die Wanderhure' an immoral term and therefore not capable of registration? This legal opinion was held by the trade mark office in Alicante and it rejected the trade mark application on the grounds of absolute grounds for refusal.
Read more10 June 2015
Employee participation in corporate image film
Corporate image films are a popular means of presenting one's own business to the public. If employees are shown, their consent to the filming and exploitation of the material is necessary. The Federal Labour Court (BAG) had to decide what requirements must be met in terms of the form of consent and whether consent can be revoked after termination of the employment relationship.
Read more08 June 2015
Injunction against a political boycott call on Twitter?
In electoral campaigns between political parties, polemic or sarcasm is often used. The Higher Regional Court of Dresden (OLG Dresden) had to decide where the limits lie in the context of the Saxon state parliament election campaign.
Read more05 June 2015
Ingredients list alone does not cure
Must a tea labelled "Felix' Raspberry-Vanilla Adventure" actually contain ingredients or aromas of raspberry or vanilla? Or is misleading excluded if the ingredients list shows that no such ingredients are present? This question was subsequently referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union (EuGH) by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), after the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Düsseldorf had initially seen no misleading.
Read more04 June 2015
The Post is booming in the region
If a complex mark coincides with an earlier mark in one component, but that component is perceived in trade merely as descriptive, no likelihood of confusion between the two signs is to be assumed. The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) recently clarified this in a further POST decision. The lower courts were the Regional Court (LG) and the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Stuttgart, whose decisions were upheld.
Read more02 June 2015
All is well?
The designation "Butter" is, under the Regulation on the Common Organisation of the Markets in Agricultural Products (CMO), similar to the term "Champagne", a protected designation for goods of a specific quality and character. The EuG now had to clarify whether the product "Pomazánkové máslo" (spreadable butter) may nevertheless continue to use the trade name "Butter".
Read more01 June 2015
A cloudy decision
When comparing two marks for the purpose of determining the existence of a likelihood of confusion, phonetic and visual criteria as well as the semantic content of the signs are decisive. In this regard, the figurative component of a word/figurative mark may lead to the verbal component being understood in a confusing manner and therefore the likelihood of confusion with an earlier word or figurative mark must be assumed.
Read more28 May 2015
Apple displaces Google!
For the tenth time, the communications agency MillwardBrown has published a list of the 100 most valuable brands, the so-called "BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands". In doing so, Google and the brand Apple have swapped positions.
Read more27 May 2015
Risk of confusion between "Mc Donalds" and "Mäc Spice"?
Is there a risk of confusion between the mark "Mäc Spice" and the trademark "Mc Donalds"? The fast food chain has now had this trademark law question decided by the Federal Patent Court (Bundespatentgericht), after the German Patent and Trade Mark Office had rejected a risk of confusion between the marks.
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