News
975 articles
22 May 2014
Fonotune Kickstarter Campaign Launched
We are proud to announce the successful kickstarter campaign launch of the Project FONOTUNE, for which our client Future Past Films (Berlin) has teamed up with san cinema (Stuttgart), MAMOKO Entertainment (Munich); Energia Films (NY, USA) and such renowned artists like Guitar Wolf Seiji, Kazushi Watanabe, Yuho Yamashita and Electric Eel Shock.
Read more22 May 2014
A cry of joy?
Online retailer Zalando obtained a preliminary injunction against the television broadcaster RTL before the Regional Court (LG) Cologne.
Read more21 May 2014
One must keep one's promises…
…or perhaps not after all? The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) had to decide whether a contractual penalty promise made in connection with a declaration of obligation to cease and desist is valid or not.
Read more21 May 2014
Specification of energy efficiency class for computer monitors?
The Higher Regional Court (OLG) Cologne had to decide whether, in the marketing of LED monitors with HDMI connection, the energy efficiency class must be specified as is the case with the advertising of television sets, and therefore the omission of this specification constitutes a breach of competition law.
Read more19 May 2014
Verifiability of reasonable remuneration in conformity with the constitution
The Federal Constitutional Court had to decide in the context of two constitutional complaints whether § 32 UrhG, created by the German legislature, which grants authors a right to judicial review of the reasonableness of remuneration agreed by contract, is compatible with the Basic Law.
Read more18 May 2014
Claiming the Priority of a Patent Application
When filing a European patent application, the priority right of an earlier application can be claimed if both concern "the same invention". The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) had to decide the extent to which generalizations in a subsequent application are permissible without exceeding the disclosure content of the priority applications.
Read more17 May 2014
Thus consider carefully before you take wedding vows…
…whether you cannot find a better wedding photographer. The wedding photographer had namely published several pictures of a wedding that he had photographed without permission for advertising purposes on his website. Since this occurred without the consent of the bride and groom, they sued the photographer for injunction and payment of damages. The Regional Court (LG) Hamburg granted the claim at least as to the merits [...]
Read more16 May 2014
No identifying court reporting
Public court proceedings are open not only to citizens but also to the press. However, if the press wishes to report on a trial under the defendant's name, limits are placed on press freedom by the general right to personality. In particular, in criminal proceedings, identifying reporting can have serious consequences for the defendant. The admissibility of naming the defendant can therefore be excluded in certain cases […]
Read more15 May 2014
The Lindt Teddy is not a Gold Bear
This was the ruling of the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Cologne in the legal dispute between the company Haribo GmbH & Co. KG and two companies of the Lindt & Sprüngli Group, which concerned the infringement of the Gold Bears trade mark. Ultimately, the court dismissed Haribo's action.
Read more14 May 2014
Jesus does not own copyright
The Higher Regional Court (OLG) Frankfurt a.M. had to decide in a peculiar legal dispute whether supernormal messages from Jesus Christ published in a book could constitute copyrightable literary works of the author, when the author herself claims that the text passages were dictated to her by Jesus.
Read more14 May 2014
Advertising in Auto-Reply E-Mail Violation of Right of Personality?
Many companies use automated receipt confirmations (auto-reply) in response to customer enquiries by e-mail in order to advertise their goods and services. The Local Court (AG) Stuttgart had to decide whether these reply e-mails constitute unsolicited advertising.
Read more13 May 2014
Territorial exclusive TV licences in breach of competition law?
The grant of exclusive broadcasting licences by several major US film studios (Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, NBC Universal, Paramount Pictures) to European pay-TV broadcasters such as BSkyB (United Kingdom), Canal Plus (France), Sky Italia, Sky Deutschland and DTS (Spain), by means of which the broadcasting of audiovisual content is restricted to a specific territory, is under review.
Read more12 May 2014
Advertising household appliances – how to do it correctly?
Stating the respective price and describing the technical details are certainly not sufficient. This is what the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) decided in a legal dispute brought by the Zentrale zur Bekämpfung unlauteren Wettbewerbs against a specialist retailer in Stuttgart-Wangen.
Read more11 May 2014
Protection of documentary films without 'level of creativity'
According to a judgment of the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), sequences of a documentary film are protected under copyright law even if they do not qualify as a 'personal intellectual creation' because their design does not meet the required minimum level of creative design.
Read more10 May 2014
Publisher share of VG Wort inadmissible
The collective management society (VG) Wort includes in its distribution plans regulations under which publishers are also to be involved in the distribution of remuneration shares. The royalties are thus paid out by VG Wort on a proportional basis according to general rates to both the authors and the publishers. The dispute was now whether the publishers can be eligible for payment at all if they […]
Read more08 May 2014
Copyright protection for a recurring image motif?
The Regional Court (LG) Cologne had to decide whether a photographer could demand design protection under copyright law for images featuring the recurring motif of a red sofa in various environments, and thereby exclude third parties from any imitation of his basic idea.
Read more07 May 2014
Right to anonymity even for wild guys?
The general right to personality offers, among other things, a right to anonymity. This includes the right not to be named in press reports. This becomes particularly relevant when the subject matter of the report is possibly criminal behaviour, since this is particularly apt to damage a person's public reputation. The Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) had to deal with […]
Read more06 May 2014
No injunction against other language versions of a film
When a licensee obtains an exclusive right of use for a film work for a territory, it seeks to exploit the exploitation potential existing there for its benefit. If the licensee is granted the right to exploit the film only for certain language versions, the question arises whether it also has the right to take action against the exploitation of other language versions that […]
Read more