News
975 articles
21 October 2014
The Fight for Justice vs. Insult of a Judge
The freedom of expression guaranteed by constitutional law enables the expression and dissemination of one's own opinion, even in the form of criticism, without having to expect prosecution and punishment. But does it also permit accusing a judge of lying, describing her judgment as sloppy and deceitful, describing her conduct as "shabby, unlawful and conduct unbecoming of a judge", as well as […]
Read more18 October 2014
Advertising with 'immediately available' in online retail?
The Regional Court (LG) Aschaffenburg had to decide, at the instigation of the Competition Centre (Wettbewerbszentrale), whether an online retailer may advertise its goods with the addition 'immediately available' if the products advertised in this manner are not held ready for dispatch on the next working day.
Read more16 October 2014
World Cup Free Kick Spray now also in Bundesliga!
The free kick spray introduced at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil will be used as of the weekend of 17 October in all matches of the first to third Bundesliga as well as in the DFB-Pokal.
Read more16 October 2014
FIS – The Head of an Unmolested Multibillion-Dollar Sports Cartel
Professional skiers around the globe are obliged under the athlete agreement to comply with the rules of their international federation FIS in order to obtain a competition licence and to pursue their profession. In this respect, it is a normal procedure, which is necessary for the orderly conduct of sporting competitions. However, the content of these rules gives cause to reflect once (again) on their appropriateness and compliance with the law.
Read more15 October 2014
Press report with stolen evidence permissible?
The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) had to decide at the highest instance whether a journalist defendant was permitted to use stolen e-mails as a source of information for the purpose of press reporting. The BGH had to balance the politician's general personality right with the public's interest in information derived from freedom of the press.
Read more14 October 2014
"Energy & Vodka" is a permissible product designation
What should one make of a drink called "Energy & Vodka"? Does one assume that the drink possesses positive nutritional properties and has a stimulating, invigorating effect on one's organism? Does the designation violate the Health Claims Regulation? The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) addressed this issue in its judgment delivered on 09.10.2014.
Read more13 October 2014
The "BAG" and the Appropriate Domain
The Federal Labour Court (BAG) has been operating under the abbreviation "BAG" for decades. However, the holder of the Internet domain "bag.de" was not the BAG but a domain trader. The Regional Court (LG) Cologne has now decided on its release.
Read more11 October 2014
Title protection for descriptive app designations?
The Higher Regional Court (OLG) Cologne had to address the question, at the instigation of the operator of wetter.de, under what conditions an app enjoys trademark law protection as a work title. The bone of contention was an app bearing the designation "wetter DE".
Read more10 October 2014
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.
Read more08 October 2014
This is indeed myschwiegermutterkäse…?
In the present case, the Federal Patent Court (BPatG) had to decide whether the application for the mark "myschwiegermutterkäse" for goods and services in classes 29, 30 and 41 was correctly rejected on the grounds of lack of distinctiveness and retention requirement.
Read more06 October 2014
Scope of the obligation to cease and desist regarding e-mail advertising
Whoever sends unsolicited e-mail advertising is obliged to cease and desist such conduct vis-à-vis the recipient and also vis-à-vis competitors due to the harassment associated therewith. The Higher Regional Court (OLG) Celle had to decide how far this obligation to cease and desist extends. Moreover, the court took the opportunity to clarify the lawfulness of the double opt-in procedure. This was denied in 2012 by the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Munich […]
Read more02 October 2014
Copyright protection of game ideas and concepts
Game ideas and concepts cannot as such or in their abstract method be protected by copyright; however, in so far as they are given concrete form in a specific work, they may be accessible to copyright protection. The Higher Regional Court (OLG) of Cologne had to decide, following a remittal by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), under what conditions this applies in the individual case.
Read more30 September 2014
Statute of limitations for file sharing after 10 years?
The limitation of claims arising from copyright infringement through file sharing is repeatedly addressed in file sharing litigation, since the asserted claims have already become time-barred in many cases. Cease-and-desist letter firms repeatedly attempt to extend the regular three-year limitation period to ten years with the argument that the copyright holders' claims for damages are claims […]
Read more29 September 2014
No deletion claim against physician rating portal
(Physician) rating portals are frequently said to have a high susceptibility to misuse because the rating can take place largely anonymously. Moreover, the ratings are susceptible to the suspicion of not being representative because, as a rule, it is rather dissatisfied customers or patients who submit ratings, which can severely distort the informational value to the detriment of the affected physician. At the instigation of a physician, […]
Read more28 September 2014
No early porting of fixed-line number
When switching telecommunications service providers, customers typically want to transfer their telephone number to the new provider as quickly as possible. But can this be demanded before the contract with the previous provider expires? The Local Court (AG) Aurich has commented on this matter.
Read more26 September 2014
Abuse proceedings against Google?
The Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) was to investigate, in the context of a complaint lodged by VG Media, whether formal abuse proceedings against the search engine giant Google should be initiated on the grounds of alleged breaches of competition law.
Read more23 September 2014
Damages for the inventor of the birthday train?
In its "birthday train" decision of 13.11.2013 (press release), the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ruled that copyright protection for works of applied art is in principle not to be subject to higher requirements than copyright protection for works of non-functional art. The Higher Regional Court (OLG) Schleswig-Holstein was now called upon to decide again on the copyright protection status of the toy train.
Read more18 September 2014
War of Colours
Not only German savings banks (Sparkassen) must fight for their 'red'. The publishing house Langenscheidt also battled with an equally 'yellow' competitor over its house colour. Now the BGH has issued a ruling on the abstract colour mark 'yellow'.
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