CK - Washington. Relaxed rules will become effective very soon, Simon's Blawg notes. The Stuttgart Chamber of Commerce provides a useful summary in German.
Companies not older than four years may now conclude temporary employment agreements, for up to four years. The rules on the termination of employees are substantially clearer: There are fixed severance structures for terminated employees who waive their right to challenge a termination in court. In addition, workable criteria apply to the selection of employees for termination based on business developments, and the standard of judicial review of adherence to the criteria is no longer simple negligence. While employees may generally not be required to work more than an average of 48 hours per week over a six month term, new collective bargaining agreements may deviate from this standard.
The effective date of the new employment rules is January 1, 2003. Internationally, they should make the work force in Germany more competitive. The special rules for new ventures should enable international businesses to test the German market for a good number of years without incurring the previously substantial penalties for terminating employees when leaving the market. The severance criteria render the costs of an engagement in Germany greaty more predictable.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
CK - Washington. A Christmas present is what a German law blog calls a ruling by the German Supreme Court BGH: Lawyers may now bring laptops into jail for client conferences as long as the laptop is not stuffed with a network card or other accessories. The order, dated December 15, 2003, occurred in the course of an investigation against a certain I.G., case numbers 2 BGs 315/2003, 2 BJs 11/03-5, involving a terrorist conspiracy.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
CK - Washington. The Federal Employment Court in Kassel, the highest German court responsible for industrial relations, recently decided that theft and conversion by an employee of property owned by the employer constitute cause for immediate termination. In another development, the planned tax reduction statute has caused the government to a concession in the area of employment law.
The new employment rules exempt employers with less than 10 employees from the strictest forms of employee protection against the termination of employment contracts. Currently, the exemption covers very small employers with up to five employees. Ten is a more reasonable number in the international experience where a startup should be able to ascertain its future before reaching the new limit.
The BAG decision 2 AZR 36/03 of December 11, 2003, published by Beck, is important because theft and conversion by themselves were not always deemed to constitute cause for termination. Employers were often unable to fire personnel on such grounds. Of particular significance is the court's holding that such conduct constitute cause not only among other factors. In other words, theft and conversion by themselves will constitute cause. The court clarified that other factors may be essential in terms of procedure and timing of the termination, but "other factors" are not to be interpretated as qualifiers of the cause.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
CK - Washington. Four judges were appointed to the following divisions of the Federal Supreme Court in Karlsruhe:
The appointments were announced on December 11, 2003. The court known as the BGH is one of several federal supreme fora spread over several cities in the federation. The one in Karlsruhe is generally deemed the most important and is charged with civil and criminal matters. Other supreme courts exist, for instance, for administrative law, employment relations, and tax law. The ultimate supreme court in Germany is the constitutional court, also located in Karlsruhe, the capital of the law in Germany.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
SW - Washington. The German Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof/BGH) recently clarified the requirements for the admission to the German bar. The court held that a German national residing in the United Kingdom who passed the First but not the Second Legal State Exam in Germany and who is admitted to the practice of law in New York, after addional U.S. law studies, could neither gain admission to the practice of law in Germany nor enjoy the privileges of an established European lawyer. Such a lawyer may, however, practice in Germany using the foreign title; this practice may include the laws of the country that conferred the degree and granted the bar admission as well as a focus on international law.
The decision resolves a controversy between a German national and regional bar administrators. The plaintiff, the German national, had passed the first, but not the second comprehensive state exam in Germany. In addition, he gained admission to the New York bar after attending a U.S. law school. When the dispute arose, he resided in London and had not been admitted there as a barrister, solicitor or advocate. He applied for admission to the German bar which rejected the application, resulting in this lawsuit.
The BGH confirmed the rejection because he qualified neither under BRAO (Bundesrechtsanwaltsordnung), the rules governing the admission to practice law based on the standard legal education in Germany, nor under EuRAG (Europäisches Rechtsanwaltsgesetz), the European Union rules controlling the practice of European attorneys in Germany, as follows:
(1) The plaintiff did not qualify for admission under § 4 BRAO which requires the Referendar and Assessor degrees because he completed only part of the standard education.
(2) He failed to meet the alternative requirements of sections 11 Abs.1 S.1 EuRAG. While a candidate who establishes an actual and systematic practice as a European attorney in Germany for three consecutive years covering German and European law will be admitted as an attorney in Germany, the plaintiff did not prove such a practice.
(3) Candidates qualified for the European attorney practice may be admitted under § 16 Abs.1 EuRAG after passing an exam to evaluate the fitness for the practice of German law. The plaintiff's petition failed that test.
As applied to the instant facts, the court concluded that his admission was lawfully denied. The ruling is important because it clarifies that German nationals may not circumvent the standards for a qualifying legal education in Germany by seeking admission abroad. Whether it will control in the long term remains to be seen. Currently, the two-step system of legal education underlying the ruling is under review and a reform may follow.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
AC - Washington. This week, German finance minister, Hans Eichel, and attorney general, Brigitte Zypries, presented a bill for a new statute concerning the auditing of financial statements. The act would introduce a so-called "enforcement procedure" to monitor the auditing of financial statements of German businesses.
Under current law, financial statements of corporations are audited by a CPA and the supervisory board of the corporation. Some cases have illustrated, however, various deficiencies in that process. Thus, to rein in corporate abuse and to restore investor confidence, the new law would create a private organization to ensure the quality of audits. In a first step, the organization would review financial statements of corporations listed on national exchanges, randomly or if an initial investigation suggests wrongdoing. This review is dependent on the consent by the corporation. In the event that an corporation should deny the request for a review by the organization, the Treasury Department may issue an order to compel the audit. In the event that the Treasury Department should question the resulting audit or procedure, it may also directly intervene in the proceedings.
The new organization will be funded through fees collected from nationally listed corporations. The legislation has been drafted in cooperation with German business organizations.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
AC - Washington. Yesterday, the Munich Court of Appeals decided in Kirch v. Deutsche Bank a controversy arising out of comments by former Deutsche Bank chief Rolf Breuer. Two months before the filing of KirchMedia's petition for bankruptcy Breuer doubted in an interview with Bloomberg TV Kirch Group's creditworthiness. Given the facts, he said, he does not see that the financial markets would provide more funds to the media affiliate, the most important Kirch affiliate. After these statements other banks declined to deal with Kirch.
The court found Breuer to have violated privacy laws, and confidentiality agreements between Kirch and its lender Deutsche Bank, resulting in the bank's liability, because Breuer had made these statements in his capacity as chairman of the board of Deutsche Bank and not as a private person, as Breuer had alleged. The court, however, overruled the decision of the lower court with respect to Breuer's individual liability and found that he is not personally liable to Kirch.
The amount of damages have not yet been determined. Reportedly they could
exceed one billion Euros. An award of this amount would be a blow against
the German bank and support critics of the substantial involvement of banks in
German corporations.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
JN - Recklinghausen. Real estate owned by a foreign sovereign and used solely for diplomatic purposes enjoys protection under German law. In a recent decision (BGHR 03, 1041), the German Supreme Court in Civil Matters (Bundesgerichtshof - BGH) prevented such property from going into foreclosure. The question whether such real estate is governed by German law or not is a matter of international law, according to Art. 25 Grundgesetz (Constitution - GG) and § 20 Abs. 2 Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz (Constitution of the Courts - GVG). Under the principles of international law adapted into German law, it is not generally undue that a foreign sovereign's property may become subject foreclosure, as the German Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht - BVerfG) stated in the matters BVerfGE 46, 342, 388, 392; 64, 1, 23, 40. But there is an international principle according to which property situated in Germany may not be executed into without the express consent of the foreign state, provided the property is being used chiefly for political or diplomatic purposes.
Because of the obvious difficulties in determining the property's main purpose, international law requires the broad application of this rule. Therefore, any property used for consular or diplomatic missions is inviolable. This includes an embassy's real estate (Art. 22 ff. of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations; Art. 31 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations), the court confirmed.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
CK - Washington. Various NS and discriminatory logos, songs, expressions and other material can trigger criminal prosecution in Germany. In an attempt to clarify the sanctioned items and expressions, a state government agency has published a list.
More . . .
CK - Washington. An American software product that forms a valuable line of defense against hackers is the reported cause of an unintended
More . . .
ZY - Washington. The Second Bavarian IT Day focused on contracts on the internet under §312 b of the German Civil Code, the new Value-Added Service statute as a response to abuse by so-called dialer software and sniper software, an overview of the amended German Copyright Act, and the new supplemental terms of contracts for securing services from private IT companies. Stephan Meyer provides an English conference report.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
FS - Washington. Transatlantic attorney Gunter von Conrad of Washington, DC died suddenly during a recent visit to Germany, as Hauptstadt::Washington reports. A memorial service arranged by the German Lutheran Church will be held at Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Bethesda, on December 13, 2003.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
SW - Washington. Since a national court of a member state of the European Union is bound by European law, it has to interpret its national law in conformity with the supreme European law. To assure an accurate interpretation, a national court can make a request to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to pronounce on the interpretation of European law.
In a new case, the Frankfurt Civil Court, a court at the district level, asked the ECJ if businesses may prohibit the use of their "infrastructure", in this instance an internally-used software program designed to gather and evaluate data.
The court provided the following facts to the ECJ: Plaintiff, market survey firm IMS Health GmbH & Co.OHG, filed suit against Defendant, NDC Health GmbH & Co. KG, a firm run by a former CEO of Plaintiff for an alleged infringement of its copyrights.
Plaintiff had developed a program to gather and evaluate data on regional sales of pharmaceuticals. The program is being used since 1970 by pharmaceutical businesses and constitutes the standard in this industry.
Defendant intended to start a business and developed a program for the same purpose. Its system failed, however, and Defendant began to use Plaintiff's program to develop a new system with it. Plaintiff then sued Defendant for violation of its copyrights in a German court and requested injunctive relief.
Based on the facts provided, before the final interpretation of European law is pronounced by the ECJ, an EU advocate general makes a closing statement.
In this case, the advocate general argued in favor of a permission to use the infrastructure of a competitor under certain conditions to prevent abuse of a monopoly. As guideline when such an abuse in violation of European law is present, he enumerated the following factors:
(1) The refusal to permit the use of the infrastructure is objectively not justifiable,
(2) the use of the immaterial good is indispensable for a related, but different market and
(3) the owner of the good would prevent competition by refusing to license.
However, the prerequisite for opening the market to compulsory licensing of innovations is that the competitor does not intend to use the license exclusively to imitate or develop similar products with view to the licensor. Rather, the licensee may use the infrastructure only to develop distinguishable products.
If all these requirements are satisfied, a copyright owner might be obligated to license his innovation.
In the present case, the German court would have to verify, therefore, which objective Defendant pursues by using Plaintiff's infrastructure.
In the event that the ECJ shares the view of the advocate general, its decision may have significant consequences if put into practice. Here, at first sight, the consequences might not seem too grave but only an application over time can reveal to what extent this compulsory licensing principle may hurt IP owners. At least, the condition that the innovation being the subject of the compulsory license has to be an industry standard as well as the other restrictions appear to ensure that a core of copyright protection remains untouched.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
CK - Washington. Like Australians and soon Americans, EU citizens now enjoy coherent region-wide anti spam rules. The new EU rules of the Privacy Protection Directive 2002/58/EC had to be transposed into national member-country laws by October 31, 2003. A description in English is this official notice and in German this Heise Online update.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
CK - Washington. A list German statutes in English translations is at the Carob translation service's website. TransBlawg's blogger and master translator for German-English text recommends the site. With two translation experts endorsing the material, these resouces would appear to be reliable for many purposes.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
WM - Schongau. According to the highest German court for administrative law, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany (JCC) must meet certain requirements in order to effectively register restitution claims under the restitution law covering East German property, the Vermögensgesetz.
This statute grants restitution to victims who suffered financial losses due to acts of nazi-terror within the borders of the former GDR and the Soviet sector of Berlin. Under the Vermögensgesetz, the JCC may claim restitution for deceased Jewish beneficiaries and their successors, who failed to file claims, thereby claiming the restitution of expropriated real property. In order to meet the statutory registration deadline of December 31st, 1992, the organization first made a global registration of claims for any and all properties.
The court held, however, that claims must identify expropriated real property, its value and former owner(s) by referring to files and documents of authorities, archives, institutions or companies made accessible after the collapse of the GDR. Therefore, the court turned down the request for a global registration of claims. It upheld a subsequent filing that that met the statutory burden, see BVerwG 7 C 62.02 and 8.03, Oct 23, 2003).
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
CK - Washington. BVerwG 6 C 23.02, a decision of October 22, 2003 by the highest German court for administrative law in Dresden, analyzed here, waives the requirement for sellers of prepaid cell phones to collect customer data. The court held that the agency requiring the collection of user data violated the constitutional right to informational self-determination.
German criminal investigators are outraged because they consider prepaid phones a common tool for criminals. The decision assures buyers of anonymity and foils their tracing when such phones are used in crimes.
The argument may lead to a revision of the statute, §90(1) TKG, in a manner compatible with the constitutional mandate of Art. 2 GG which embodies the principle of informational self-determination and, thereby, protects the privacy of individuals.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
CK - Washington. Typical mistake in the German press: Tagesschau.de discusses a spam conviction in California and refers to some statute, as if there were a federal anti-spam statute.
More . . .
JN - Recklinghausen. Regardless of dot-com bubbles and internet hypes, Intellectual Property often is one of the most valuable corporate assets. For instance, Business Week estimates the current monetary value of the Coca-Cola brand at US$70.45 billion, representing up to 70% of the total market capitalization of the company. For small and medium enterprises the valuation of IP assets is also important, as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) points out.
More . . .
CK - Washington. The German rules requiring detailed information on web publishers have been abused greatly by cease and desist specialists who send demands to alleged violators and charge them a fee for their service. In one case, a court condoned the practice when a web publisher failed to make the information available with two mouse clicks from the main page. Another court defined the screen resolution which controls where a compliant link to the information should reside. Other courts have addressed the issue of "commercial purpose" as a criterion to subject web sites to the requirement, and the trend there appears to deem commercial any third party advertising banners even if the site does not display any other commercial purpose.
More . . .
JN - Recklinghausen. Germany makes another attempt to get rid of the self-proclaimed "Kalif of Cologne". Up to now, Turkish radical Islamist leader Metin Kaplan, convicted on appeal for murder and released from prison after having served a four year sentence, has successfully challenged every attempt by German officials to expel him. Although his immigration status as a legal asylum-seeker has been revoked, German courts continue to prevent Kaplan's deportation.
More . . .
ZY - Washington. In a surprising development, the European Court of Justice opened the door to legal recourse for business harmed by the European Union's failure to complate with a World Trade Organization mandate. A few days ago, the court found that the direct applicability of WTO rules in EU law may allow new remedies for damages suffered by its citizens for violations by the EU bodies. A new analysis by Werner Berg of Gleiss Lutz explains how the new rulings constitute a potential third prong for a direct WTO effect in EU law.
More . . .
CK - Washington. stern.de offers theses and papers on various subjects, including law, on its online site, as Handakte WebLAWG points out. WebLAWG also praises a German patent law site.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
TD - Heidelberg. The German Parliament enacted a statute to address copyright law in the information society--Gesetz zur Regelung des Urheberrechts in der Informationsgesellschaft--as an amendment to the German Copyright Statute. Beyond the revisions of the copyright law, the statute adjusts the Urheberrechtswahrnehmungsgesetz and the Unterlassungsklagengesetz. Both statutes lack a direct counterpart in the United States. The Code of Criminal Procedure (Strafprozessordnung) required a few modifications. The 2003 amendment is now effective and available for download.
More . . .
EW - Washington. On September 24, 2003, the German Supreme Court in Karlsruhe decided the case of a muslim whose application for an appointment to the position of a teacher in a public school was denied by the State of Baden-Württemberg. The state based its rejection on the doctrine of neutrality of the state. Fereshta Ludin, a German of Afghan origin, argued that her constitutional right to religious freedom should prevail and insisted on keeping her head covered also in class.
More . . .
CK - Washington. The Luther movie coming out nationwide on Friday has me thinking about its legal angles. The film is enthralling. When you see it, the action keeps moving rapidly through decades and locales and lives. There is hardly any time for reflection. You soak in the events, in their historical context, and sort things out later.
More . . .
The Better Homes and Gardens copyright in a story about homey Hitler is gaining immortality. LA-Legal and the-crease make certain that nobody will violate that copyright. The explanations of the legal issues and their context are worth reading.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
CK - Washington. FAZ Weekly has a fine report on the E.U. court decision to confirm the antitrust fine imposed on Volkswagen. The anti-competitive charges had been directed also against several other manufacturers. FAZ has the details.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
CK - Washington. Transblawg publisher Margaret Marks discusses the difficulty many German speakers without US legal training have with the English terms remedies and jurisdiction. Her elucidating analysis is especially useful because it is not limited to the proper terms but also addresses the frequently-found mistakes. The examples extend in their validity beyond the UK jurisdctions to those of the United States.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
CK - Washington. The German Supreme Court in Karlsruhe decided in the matter BVerfG, 1 BvR 2108/02, on August 4, 2003 that attorneys with major credits in active sports may advertise their sports accomplishments in their specialized practice.
More . . .
WM - Washington. Today, Gerhard Wegen, Esq., partner at the Gleiss Lutz lawfirm and law professor at Tübingen University Law School, spoke at the German American Law Association, Capital Area Chapter, Washington D.C. His presentation, The Evolving Nature of Corporate Practice in Germany, focused on the differences in corporate law between Germany and the United States.
More . . .
JG - Washington. In a new analysis, Augsburg lawyer Susanne Wagner investigates the legal status that U.S.-incorporated companies have in Germany under the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between the United States and Germany. She illustrates the issues by providing an overview of the German international corporate law and explains that the legal status is determined by the law of the jurisdiction where the corporation maintains its headquarters. In that context, the author explores a case currently pending in the German Supreme Court which deals with the recognition of American companies in Germany.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
CK - Washington. Prof. Gerhard Wegen of pan-German powerhouse law firm Gleiss Lutz and Tübingen University Law School will speak at the German American Law Association on Wednesday, August 13, 2003. The presentation to the GALA Capital Area Chapter will focus on the evolving nature of the German corporate practice.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
CS, JG - Washington. Today, Dr. Stephan Seltenreich, Esq., of White &Case, Frankfurt, spoke at the German Amerian Law Association, Capital Area Chapter in Washington, about the newest developments in German tax law. Dr. Seltenreich introduced the changes in the Reorganization Tax Act. In the area of corporate taxation he emphasized shareholder taxation on dividends, capital gains taxation, transfer pricing and group taxation. He illustrated the effects and differences through examples, especially as they relate to resident and foreign shareholders, and by comparing German and American issues in transfer pricing. He concluded with the more recent reform proposal, the reforms for lump sum tax on interest and the upcoming tax amnesty which are now being debated in the German parliament. His presentation led to a lively discussion.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
CS - Washington. German attorney Martin Bahr looks at issues of compliance under German law with court orders to remove offensive material from the internet. In his analysis, he examines both technical and legal problems. He advocates a reasonableness standard that does not require the absolute eradication of any trace of the offensive material because that could be technically impossible; and a factual impossibility is excused by the law.
More . . .
CK - Washington. Incredibly, Ticketmaster's privacy policy allows sharing of all personal customer information except credit card specifics with whoever they please. This is the upshot of an investigation by Ed Foster, published on his gripe2ed.com customer protection website.
More . . .
JN - Washington. Efficiency and usability of the internet celebrate a remarkable victory over copyright and unfair competition claims before the German Federal Supreme Court ("Bundesgerichtshof"). In its ruling of July 17, 2003 (Case No. I ZR 259/00, not yet published), the court held that webpages containing publically accessible news articles may be linked directly (so-called "deep linking" or "web-clipping") while bypassing the entry pages of content providers.
More . . .
EW - Washington. The European Company Statute (Council Regulation EC No. 2157/01 and Council Directive 2001/86/EC) that constitutes the establishment of a Societas Europaea (SE), a new European form of corporation, will become effective on October 8, 2004. A note by F. Hauswiesner introduces the laws and regulations and certain statutory requirements.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
CK - Washington. Discussions erupt about ownership in the blogged word. A blog is a site like this where operators post texts sequentially and third parties attach comments to such texts. The American perspective is here, and a European view is here.
More . . .
CK - Washington. A German government-chartered commission has published its Corporate Governance Code (Deutscher Corporate Governance Kodex). The commission consists of academics and business leaders. The code applies to stock corporations listed on the German stock exchanges. A list of companies that subscribe to the code is published.
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CK - Washington. An important petition suggests that Microsoft fix its internet browser to properly display PNG images. For instance, the logo above displays a white background in MS's broken windows browser but a transparency in regular browsers. Presumably, without having achieved a near-monopoly in browsers for windows users, MS would have fixed this feature several versions ago as it promised for version 4.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
CK - Washington. The Federal Trade Commission got Guess. Guess got customer data. It promised on its website to keep them "stored in an unreadable, encrypted format at all times." Now Guess got stress.
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CK - Washington. On June 27, 2003, at the Austrian Justice Department, and on June 28, 2003, at the Vienna Business School, a two day conference will discuss international IP bankruptcy issues with an emphasis on software.
Day 1 begins with the bankruptcy of software licensees and country reports on Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The afternoon looks at the same issues when the licensor is bankrupt and moves into escrow issues.
Day 2 addresses data protection issues involving software escrow agreements and practice pointers with such contracts.
Contact Sylke Eich by email for reservations. The German Computer Society DGRI organizes the event.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
JN - Washington. Despite Microsoft's favorable discounts for its operating systems, the Social-Democrat (SPD) controlled Munich city council decided for Linux.
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CK - Washington. The Electronic Privacy Information Center has developed a comprehensive overview of the European data retention directive, formally called the Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (Directive 2002/58/EC).
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CK - Washington. This petition to Congress is great reading for IP freaks and anybody with an interest in conserving very old copyright-protected works.
The petitioners would like to see mummyfied works preserved and hope that returning them to the public domain will help interested parties do that.
Obviously, this change would have effects on copyright exploiters that rely on their constitutional right to raise revenue from the works of the dead.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
CK - Washington. IEEE-USA filed an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court to defend reverse engineering of software on cert of Bowers v. Baystate Technologies, Inc., 320 F.3d 1317 (Fed. Cir. 2003) from the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Federal Circuit in Washington, DC.
Among several arguments supporting the supremacy of federal intellectual property law, the IEEE argues that the recent Bowers decision effectively rewards creativity in crafting license agreements at the expense of the essential tenets of copyright law.
More . . .
www.LEXO.us is the new quick URL to get here.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
CK - Washington. In Microsoft Risks Copyright Impotence, Washington lawyer John Mitchell argues convincingly that certain Microsoft software licenses constitute a misuse of copyright law and, therefore, have no effect.
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If you are touched by export controls, you know of Benjamin Flowe, or you should. Ben has just released an update on the Iraq sanctions and their liberalization. Topics include: AES Will Be Mandatory, with
Certification to File Export Documents; Microprocessor Liberalization
with NLR Military End-Use Controls; Current Export Legislation; Bush
Administration Defense Trade Review; Enforcement Cases; CCL and Other
Changes. The thrust of his arguments is:
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MP - Munich. The German Supreme Court (BGH in its decision I ZR 276/00) confirmed on April 10, 2003 a ruling by the Cologne appeals court (OLG Köln) that the mark "LEIFHEIT TopParty" does not infringe on the "Tupperware" trademark.
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JN - Washington. The Munich city council, already on its way to fame as the first municipality in Germany to exclusively use Linux, has
been offered a 15% discount by Microsoft on its products. The reigning
Social Democrats now favor Windows.
More . . .
JN - Washington. The German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof in Zivilsachen, case
no. VI ZR 321/02) ruled on April 1, 2003 that a contestant in a car
race may not seek damages from another participant for an
injury sustained in the race.
More . . .
DAJV, the German American Law Association has released its new edition of USA-Bewerbungsführer für Juristen. The second editon, completely revised, contains "Informationen für eine erfolgreiche Bewerbung in den USA". The price for members is Euro 6.00 and for non-members Euro 9.00.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
Marburg Journal of Religion carries an article by Stephen A. Kent of the University of Alberta on "The French and German versus American Debate over 'New Religions', Scientology, and Human Rights. Not a legal issue?
It seems to have become a big deal with efforts to define religions. And some American organization are raising hell over such German efforts. There is even a drive to sponsor opposing comments to German politicians which arrived in mail boxes around May 1. An overview of German rules on religion is here -- no idea whose bias, if any, is portrayed.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
Within the past few days, the major US internet providers, among them AOL and monopolist Microsoft, joined to fight spam, the unwanted commercial email or UCE.
Now comes RIAA, representing music marketers, from a fresh court loss against peer-to-peer network providers, and decides to generate huge numbers of notices to users of P2P networks, asking them to stop piracy of commercial music of RIAA members.
Ironically, RIAA appears to use data gathered from the networks and the infrastructure of the networks to disseminate its own version of UCE; or should that read "ab-use"?
Read Sabine Roettger's article about the California case and look up today's papers about RIAA's action and the reaction of defenders of privacy. Expect more on the legal issues involving RIAA soon, everywhere.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
The Wall Street Journal on page one reports today on the invention of a German doctor employed by the Mayo Clinic. Can you recall the differences in treatment of employee inventions under American and German law? The clinic is giving him a piece of the action when marketing the patent that cures sinusitis or such. German law would require the clinic as a matter of law to do so. What were the inventor's expectations when he signed up with the clinic? What did the clinic antipate? Does this facet of German employment law have extraterritorial effects, like some others do?
For a discussion of German extraterritoriality in employment law, see Manfred Stolz's article Grundzüge des Internationalen Arbeitsrechtes
und des Internationalen Sozialrechtes im Verhältnis BRD - USA in 3 German American Law Journal 41 (1993).
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
CK - Washington. JUVE-Nachrichtenbank reports today of a seemingly crazy order by the Hamburg District Court. Renowned video game maker EA used German star soccer goalie Kahn's likeness, apparently with the permission of a soccer licensing organization.
More . . .
JG - Washington. Jens Nebel explores an amendment in the German Commercial Code which governs corporations. Now, the HGB requires that companies and sole proprietors express their corporate form within their business name. In his overview of the pros and cons of the new rules, the author states the main purpose: Assure a higher level of transparency in commerce.
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
Information Technology Law: Second Bavarian IT Day (Stephan Meyer, November 20, 2003)
E.U. Owes Compensation to Companies for Failure to Comply with WTO Mandate? (Werner Berg, October 6, 2003)
German Supreme Court Recognizes U.S. Corporations (Susanne Wagner, August 12, 2003)
New Corporate Form: Societas Europeae (Florian Hauswiesner, July 17, 2003)
New Corporate Name Requirement Effective April 2003 (Jens Nebel, April 24, 2003)
© German American Law Journal :: Washington USA
- German Reports:
