Judgement of LAG München (Higher Labour Court Munich) of 26/08/2010, file number: 4 Sa 227/10

Provided that an employee creates a satire site based on the basic division of the former website of his employer and whose origin can only be identified by insiders, an extraordinary dismissal is not allowed. Even with remarkable audacity, lack of design imagination and lack of awareness of potential risks of defamation during the creation of the satire, this is principally protected by the freedom of expression. Although insiders may indicate the describing and supposed conditions as an offence against the employer, this does not carry any repercussion....

Judgement of LAG Niedersachsen (Higher Labour Court Niedersachsen) of 31/05/2010, file number: 12 Sa 875/09

When an employee reads and writes private e-mails during the working hours and over a longer period – on several days even in such a time frame that it could suggest that no time is left for the job completion –, this excessive private emailing justifies an extraordinary dismissal without previous warning.

Press release of the BMJ (Federal Ministry of Justice) of 30/09/2009

The Patent Act should become easier and more modern for the employee’s invention through changes on the registration, on the system of appeal and on the procedure. We have already reported in May about the decision of the German Parliament due to the law draught to the simplification and modernisation of the Patent Law. The changes enter into force on October 1, 2009.

Judgement of LAG Rheinland-Pfalz (Higher Labour Court Rheinland-Pfalz) of 26/03/2009, file number: 2 Sa 776/08

Erased files on the hard disks of a private PC, which allegorise a hint of the realisation of criminal action, can justify a dismissal on grounds of suspicion. Besides, it does not depend on the shutoff of the criminal procedure or the remission of a penalty order. In this case, only the suspicion of the perpetration of a possible serious criminal offence comprises an extraordinary dismissal.

Judgement LAG Köln (Higher Labour Court Cologne) of 15/12/2003, file number: 2 Sa 816/03

If there are no clear company rules about the private use of the firm computer, a dismissal regularly needs of the previous warning letter, even if during the working hours an important number of private e-mails are written.

Judgement of VG Göttingen (Administrative Court Goettingen) of 12/05/2009, file number: 5 A 4/07

If a professor stores and loads images and video files with child-pornographic content on his official PC, this shows such a serious disciplinary offence that it leads to the removal from the office. The access to such files by a professor leads, from the point of view of an impartial and considerate third, to a final and entire loss of the respect as a teacher and model.

Judgement of BAG (Labour Court) of 20/01/2009, file number: 1 AZR 515/08

A rate-responsible trade union is allowed to send advertisement and information to employees to their official e-mail address, even if the employer has prohibited its private use.

Judgement of BGH (Federal Supreme Court) of 18/12/2008, file number: IX ZR 124/08

The proceeding of the creditor for the removal of a contradiction of the debtor against the registration of a demand per se due to a deliberately committed tortious act is not bound to the observance of a claim limitation....