Are Dynamic IP-Addresses “Personal Data” As Defined By the EU Data Protection Directive?

Posted on November 1, 2014 by Dominik Kirschner

And if so; May they be recorded? – The German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in its decision dated October 28, 2014, court ref. VI ZR 135/13 referred to the to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary ruling regarding the interpretation of the EU Data Protection Directive concerning the definition of the term “personal data” therein and recording of dynamic IP-addresses. Continue reading →

The Title of an App Can Be Protected as a Work Title under German Trademark Law – If it Is Not Merely Descriptive

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Dominik Kirschner

The Higher Regional Court of Cologne (OLG Köln) held in its decision (court ref. 6 U 205/13) dated September 5, 2014 that the title of a mobile app can enjoy protection against similar titles for similar services. However, the claimant who is the operator of a German weather information website that runs under the domain <wetter.de> and an app with identical content also titled <wetter.de> cannot prohibit the use of the title <wetter DE> or <wetter-de> for a similar weather app by the defendant. Continue reading →

Court Decision: Companies Allowed to run Fanpages on Facebook

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Dominik Kirschner

The Administrative Court of Schleswig (Verwaltungsgericht Schleswig) held today in three parallel decisions that companies that run their own fanpages on Facebook are not responsible for the social network’s data collection and processing under German data protection law. Continue reading →

Leading Decision on Parents’ Liability for Copyright Violation by File Sharing Children

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Dominik Kirschner

The German Federal Court of Justice yesterday November 15, 2012 decided on how far parents can be held liable for their children’s illegal use of file sharing via peer-to-peer services and copyright violations resulting from that use. Continue reading →

Max Mosley v. Google: Opening of the Trial

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Dominik Kirschner

Today the Hamburg Regional Court opened the trials in Max Mosley’s lawsuit against Google Inc. over violation of his right of personality. The plaintiff wants Google to filter out compromising pictures from its search results. Continue reading →

Update: Cabinet passed Third Proposal for a New Neighboring Right for Press Publishers

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Dominik Kirschner

In our blog, we have been keeping track of the new neighboring right for press publishers. After staggering in round one and in round two, the amended proposal now knocked out its critics in round three. Did it really? Continue reading →

Disguised Advertising in the Wikipedia

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Dominik Kirschner

Once information is entered into the Internet’s most popular encyclopedia Wikipedia it gains an immense potential of distribution. The high number of users and the easy accessibility in combination with the impression of neutrality an encyclopedia communicates make it highly desirable for companies to be positively depicted in articles about the company itself or its products.

The Higher Regional Court of Munich decided on May 10^th, 2012 that positive display of a company’s products in a Wikipedia article that was amended by the director of the company constitutes disguised advertising and thus unfair competition as defined by Section 4 No. 3 UWG (the German Law Against the Unfair Competition). Continue reading →

German IT Law

JBB's Blog on German and European Technology and Data Privacy Law

Author Archives: Dominik Kirschner