News
975 articles
29 May 2012
Liability of the connection holder for file-sharing by spouse?
The Higher Regional Court (OLG) Cologne had to decide whether the connection holder is liable for copyright infringements on the Internet, such as offering copyright-protected works on the Internet (file-sharing), always and vis-à-vis other adult persons with access rights in his household.
Read more03 May 2012
Provision of specialist books on the internet permissible?
The Higher Regional Court (OLG) Stuttgart had to decide whether and/or to what extent universities are permitted to display parts of textbooks for their students on the internet and to make them available for download.
Read more02 May 2012
Use of a test rating from Stiftung Warentest in breach of competition law?
The Regional Court (LG) Heilbronn had to decide whether an advertising announcement submitted to the court, in which a test rating from Stiftung Warentest was advertised, was misleading and thus in breach of competition law.
Read more19 April 2012
Doctor reviews on internet portal permissible under data protection law?
The Higher Regional Court (OLG) Frankfurt a.M. was to decide on the appeal of a female doctor who had not been able to achieve the deletion of a negative review on an internet rating portal for doctors in the first instance.
Read more17 April 2012
Legally secure online commerce: A Japanese company shows us how – rakuten.de
Ever heard of Rakuten? No? The Japanese company operates under rakuten.de in Germany and according to its own information unites around 5,000 rental shops with almost 10 million items, thus positioning itself as a serious competitor to eBay & Amazon. Japanese Rakuten Inc. is something like Asia's Amazon and in 2011 acquired a majority stake in the […]
Read more16 April 2012
Copyright infringement through 'Like' – a problematic issue on Facebook
In any case, lawyers who deal with copyright and the internet day in and day out are unlikely to have been surprised: a report about the first Facebook cease-and-desist letter for a violation of photographic rights is doing the rounds on the internet. The outrage is great, although on Facebook and other social networks the same applies as elsewhere: foreign photographs may only be […]
Read more29 March 2012
Unfair deception through fruit tea without fruit?
The Regional Court (LG) Düsseldorf had to decide whether a tea bearing images of fruit may be advertised if no components of these fruits are contained in the product.
Read more20 March 2012
Copyright protection for football match schedules?
The Court of Justice of the European Union (EuGH) was asked whether a schedule for football matches, as a database, enjoys copyright protection and thereby excludes third parties from its use.
Read more19 March 2012
File-sharing conviction of a pensioner without a computer?
The Local Court (AG) Munich had to decide whether a pensioner could be ordered to pay damages for offering a film work on the internet via a file-sharing network, despite the fact that she did not own a computer at all and therefore could not have committed the copyright infringement herself.
Read more17 February 2012
Is an advertising slogan capable of being registered as a trade mark?
Advertisers are often faced with the difficult task of having to create creative distinctive signs with high recognition value for their clients. In doing so, they must regularly ensure that the distinctive signs and advertising slogans they create are also capable of being registered as trade marks. The Federal Patent Court (Bundespatentgericht) had to decide in such a case whether the advertising slogan "Lovely Moments" created by an advertising agency […]
Read more10 February 2012
Withdrawal instruction after eBay auction close – timely?
The Higher Regional Court (OLG) Hamm had to decide the legal question whether the transmission of the withdrawal instruction immediately following the auction close on the Internet platform eBay by the merchant is still timely to trigger the 14-day withdrawal period in the consumer contract.
Read more08 February 2012
Advertising ban on mailboxes – does it also apply to advertising sheets with editorial content?
The Higher Regional Court (OLG) Hamm had to decide whether advertising sheets and advertising inserts in newspapers may be inserted into mailboxes when these are marked with a notice "No Advertising".
Read more01 February 2012
Infringement of an Apple iPad design by Samsung tablet?
The Higher Regional Court (OLG) Düsseldorf had to decide whether two tablet PC models by Samsung infringed the design registered by Apple Inc. throughout Europe for the iPad and/or whether the distribution of the computers was to be objected to on grounds of competition law. If so, distribution on the German and/or European market would have to be prohibited.
Read more30 January 2012
Is a claim for an injunction against hotel reviews permissible?
The Higher Regional Court (OLG) Hamburg had to decide, as the appellate instance, whether the operator of a hotel has a claim based on competition law for an injunction against hotel reviews on a travel portal on the Internet.
Read more30 January 2012
No violation of personality rights in reporting on pornographic performance
Must a former pornographic actor tolerate press reports on this fact, or does such reporting constitute a violation of the actor's privacy and intimate sphere? The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has now decided this question at the final instance.
Read more18 January 2012
Cease and desist notice for file sharing 25 months after download — permissible?
According to settled case law of the Higher Regional Court of Cologne (OLG Köln), a court may only provide a cease and desist issuer with information concerning the assignment of an IP address to an Internet connection if the copyright infringement has reached a commercial scale. This is to be assumed without further argument if the infringement occurred within the first six months following the initial publication of the work. In the present case, […]
Read more18 January 2012
Indeterminate file-sharing cease-and-desist letter unusable?
The Higher Regional Court (OLG) Düsseldorf had to decide in a file-sharing matter regarding an application for legal costs assistance, which the Regional Court (LG) Düsseldorf refused to the Internet user who had been warned by the law firm Rasch.
Read more19 December 2011
Snow White vs. Snow Flittchen
The Federal Patent Court had to decide whether the registered mark "Snow Flittchen and the 7 Lovely Dwarfs" was confusingly similar to the previously registered mark "Snow White" and should therefore be deleted from the trade mark register.
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