Media Law

Decorating the own profile with photos, text and YouTube videos is something that happens every day on Favebook. The problem appears when the copyrights are not own by the facebook user who has just copied the internet contents. Even when a user is in principle owner of the rights and according to the terms of use, facebook is allowed to use the contents to a large extend. Lawyer Hagen Hild, certified lawyer in IT Law and in Protection of Industrial Property has been interviewed by FOCUS Online about that topic.

Elvis Presley has been supposedly exploited by his record company during his lifetime. At least this is what his descendants maintain suiting Sony Music Entertainment as Presley’s former record company. Antenne Bayern interviews Julian N. Modi, LL.M., certified lawyer in IT-Law about the rights of the heirs. They base their claim on § 32a Copyright Act (UrhG) that states that the artist is also later entitled to compensation in case that the new owner of the right of use has unexpected success with the work of art.

Whispering in the stock market can bring the stock quotes to collapse in short time. News spread non-braked around the globe through Facebook, Twitter & Co. Is the person who started the rumour liable for the damages? Financial Times Deutschland interviews lawyer Alexander Wagner about the legal situation and liability of the ones who manifest an opinion and of the ones who repeat it.

The Administrative Court of Baden-Württemberg decided that in case of a marriage-like partnership, the TV licensing fee should only paid once (Sentence dated August 21, 2008, file number: 2 S 1519/08).

Judgement of OLG Hamburg (Higher Regional Court Hamburg) of 04/08/2010, file number: 5 U 152/09

An advertisement must not be explicitly referred as “ad” when this is clearly one for the average reader. An explicit reference is not necessary in case that a separation is given, through the design of the ad, between editorial and advertisement content. Such design does not cover any  disguised advertising.

Judgement of AG Kerpen (Local Court Kerpen) of 04/11/2010, file number: 102 C 108/10

If footage of a traffic accident is available on the Internet, no consent is necessary for the publication if the people involved cannot be recognised. A visible licence plate number is not a decisive factor since this identifies the vehicle, not the driver. In case that the recognition is only based on the particular means of transport in relation with local conditions, as in the reported incident, the publication does not constitute any infringement of personality rights.

Judgement of LG Lübeck (Regional Court Lübeck) of 28/10/2010, file number: 14 S 135/10

In order to assess whether a statement is a statement of fact or an expression of opinion, the context has to be considered. It has also to be considered whether the statement falls within the scope of a political discourse. Participants of a political battle of opinions must tolerate statement that, isolated, would approach the limit of insulting criticism.

Decision of LG Köln (Regional Court Köln) of 01/12/2010, file number: 28 O 594/10

According to the Regional Court of Cologne, the fact of the regular reporting should have met the public consciousness that, by handing over an Internet connection to thirds, right infringements are not implausible. Therefore, parents must ensure, through consistent performance of their duties, that copyright infringements do not occur.

Judgement of AG Bremen-Blumenthal (Local Court Bremen-Blumenthal) of 23/08/2010, file number: 42 C 43/10

Property owners may restrain GEZ employees from unreported and unauthorised trespassing and, GEZ employees may also be banned from premises. This could happen provided that the GEZ employees’ purpose is obtaining the necessary information to collect the license fee. GEZ is not entitled to get any other information as the stated on the broadcasting contract. In case that the ban from the premises is infringed, the property owner’s privacy may be violated.

Judgement of LG Hamburg (Regional Court Hamburg) of 03/09/2010, file number: 308 O 27/09

YouTube is liable for the contents of videos anonymously uploaded, which infringes the copyright law. This follows from the principle “to make one’s own” foreign contents since from the point of view of an objective observer, the videos can be understood as from the internet platform itself. 

Judgement of OLG Köln (Higher Regional Court Cologne) of 11/06/2010, file number: 6 U 23/10

A publisher is not allowed to advertise a new edition of a book, which has experienced changes in content and format, without informing about the true contents of the book compared to the original work. An example is the advertising of a new edition of a well-known book from Helmut Newton, which was published in a reduced format and in which 74 pictures were replaced by other motives. The Higher Regional Court Cologne confirmed the injunction against the publisher so that the use of six advertising messages, such as “Resurrection of the book”, is inadmissible....

Judgement of LG Köln (Regional Court Cologne) of 12/05/2010, file number: 28 O 175/10

A nationwide well-known weather forecaster must not tolerate that the press publishes concrete details about the investigation concerning the procedure against him. Although the rape allegations count with an important public interest, they could cause a difficult complete rehabilitation of the weather forecaster in case of exculpation.

Judgement of KG Berlin (Superior Court of Justice Berlin) of 15/06/2010, file number: 5 U 35/08

Copies of already published photographs are certainly permissible as a part of a quotation and if they are not only used with pure decorative and illustrative purposes. The reproduction of an unmodified small picture in a larger picture shows a “copyright relevant intervention” according to §§ 72, 15, 16 UrhG (German Copyright Act).

Judgement of LG Berlin (Regional Court Berlin) of 27/04/2010, file number; 27 O 66/10

The plaintiff, a famous comedian, is in an alimony dispute with his father, who had admitted to the press in the past that he was impoverished and dependent on the maintenance of his son. The father’s lawyers wrote that “it is written in the stars to what extend such procedure can be kept away from the interest of the public”. The plaintiff demanded an omission from his father to speak to the media about the alimony procedure and about the fact that the plaintiff pays no maintenance. Thereafter, an article was published in which the father was quoted with the words: “My...

Judgement of BGH (Federal Supreme Court) of 02/03/2010, file number: VI ZR 23/09

Provided that an article published on the Internet injures the personality right of someone and shows at the same time a clear relation to Germany, the legal way to German courts is opened. A plaintiff resident in Germany took legal actions against the publisher of the newspaper “The New York Times” as well as against the author resident in New York, since the published article injured the plaintiff’s right.

Representatives of the film, music and software industry must still accept considerable sales losses due to the private exchange of their copyrighted works in so-called Peer-2-Peer-Networks. Through file sharing systems, such as eMule or BitTorrent, users unite to a community and exchange the data of their computers. Not only a download of a copy of a copyrighted file takes place, rather the user also offers suitable files even to other participants to upload. The user makes also available the files of other participants which exist on his computer through the P2P network for unlawful download.

Can the bare looking of a film on the Internet be already unlawful? – Juridical action against film portals such as Kino.to

Internet portals which offer actual films and TV series free of charge, illegal per se, for viewing count with bigger and bigger popularity among users. However, for the film industry such portals are seen as a nightmare. During the past years, the film industry had already faced important sales losses due to copyright pirates. Due to the use of the mentioned film portals, the film industry also loses in the commercial distribution a considerable number of customers. The most prominent example at the moment of a controversial film...

Judgement of OLG Düsseldorf (Higher Regional Court) of 09/02/2010, file number: I-20 U 151/09

When a movie contains a photo without the approval of the affected person, the freedom of art should be weighed against the personality right of the affected person. However, minors enjoy a considerably higher protection and, therefore, a consideration will basically grant their interests.

Judgement of LG Hamburg (Regional Court Hamburg) of 04/12/2009, file number: 324 O 338/09

The bare publishing of a paparazzi photo does not mean that the photographed public figure “collects promotionally”. In this case a known German photographer considered that he could require royalty payments from the defendant, since the publication of the photo shows him by reading a known Sunday paper. Nevertheless, the Regional Court Hamburg did not share that opinion. In case of pure journalistic use of the picture, the photographed cannot claim for remuneration. 

Judgement of LG Berlin (Regional Court Berlin) of 29/09/2009, file number: 27 O 736/09

Without concrete and actual reason, the reporting about the state of health of a celebrity is inadmissible, since this concerns the main area of privacy. A known entertainer and comedy actress was seriously ill; this was compared in the media with the situation of host who was also ill. However, the illness of any third person who has no relation with the first mentioned person shows no “actual reason”, therefore, the reporting injures the general Personality Right.