German American Law Journal :: American Edition

21. Dezember 2006 —KR - Washington.   Spam EMails violate various German statutes. Most commonly, a cause of action is based on the Unfair Competition Statute, UWG, of July 3, 2004, BGBl. I, p.1414, as amended on April 19, 2006, BGBl. I, p.866. On October 25, 2006, the Karlsruhe Court of Appeals decided in the matter …

13. Dezember 2006 —CK - Washington.   The German government approved a set of mutual cooperation and legal assistance agreements with the United States in a bill that implements bilateral agreements and E.U. agreements with the United States. The German text includes the agreements as well as explanatory notes and not…

11. Dezember 2006 —CK - Washington.   The Berlin attorney general moved to Web 2.0 and now is two steps ahead of it, says its press release of December 11, 2006. The site www.bmj.bund.de--don't forget to enter the archaic www or it won't open--offers content in English, including information such as: You may be able t…

9. Dezember 2006 —CK - Washington.   German law protects the privacy of not so famous persons by limiting the publication of names and pictures in the media. The famous enjoy protection in intimate matters. As a result, the press covers many events involving the not-so-famous by using initials instead of full names. …

1. Dezember 2006 —CK - Washington.   An Azur overview of salaries paid associates in Germany-located law offices points to premiums paid by America-based law firms. The fall 2006 compensation table list both base and maximum salaries. There are small German firms with better deals but the Azur compilation appears to …

27. November 2006 —CK - Washington.   In the past, German courts applied German civil law relating to the protection of names proper, and competition and trademark law, to the .de domain. Thus, a city could insist on the domain city.de--an unfortunate departure from the well-established first come, first served princi…

26. November 2006 —CK - Washington.   The Frankfurt District Court ruled on November 23, 2006 in the matter 2-03 O 172/06 on the legality of commercially provided abstracts of book reviews under German copyright law. It found in favor of the web publisher of abstracts who based his summaries, including rare verbatim e…

25. November 2006 —CK - Washington.   Press release number 160/2006 issued by the German Supreme Court in Karlsruhe on November 14, 2006 in the matter LG Waldshut-Tiengen--2 O 70/04 ./.OLG Karlsruhe--13 U 134/04 covers the report on the news today of a ruling holding the physician financially responsible for the suppo…

24. November 2006 —CK - Washington.   On November 24, 2006, the second chamber in Berlin, Bundesrat, approved a statute to amend two statutes on the transfer of foreign prisoners to their home countries. The amendments facilitate the return of sentenced persons in order to resocialize them in their home environment a…

18. November 2006 —CK - Washington.   Blue Laws at the state level in Germany evaporate. Long gone are the days when the Sunday dress came with strict closing hours and all you could buy between Saturday noon and Monday morning was Kaffee und Kuchen or a draft beer. Effective next Tuesday, all of Northrhine-Westphalia…

17. November 2006 —CK - Washington.   Spam laws are tough in Germany. A case and desist demand sent in response to an unsolicited fax to a business made it all the way to the Supreme Court in Karlsruhe. On June 1, 2006, the court decided that such a fax is illegal and the business may demand the cessation of such tran…

11. November 2006 —CK - Washington.   A help wanted advertisement by a law firm smartly hightlights issues under the new German non-discrimination statute. The ad starts with a search for exceptionally pretty, dynamic female lawyers, 25 to 35 years of age, with accent-free English and top grades, then asks: How many v…

5. November 2006 —CK - Washington.   The business of abusive cease and desist demands in Germany may become less profitable. Occasionally, bloggers report on such demands, organize opposition and refer affected colleagues to experienced counsel. A new step is a community blog, Abmahnung. In its introduction, it warns…

4. November 2006 —CK - Washington.   Netzeitung provides an update on the photo scandal involving German troops in Kabul, Afghanistan. The scandal has been the main news topic in Germany for the past 10 days. Nobody understands why soldiers would pose with skulls and bones found in a pit near Camp Warehouse. On Novem…

4. November 2006 —CK - Washington.   The Supreme Court in Karlsruhe displayed common sense when it scrutinized the scope of statutory obligations to publish identifying information on certain web sites. On July 20, 2006, it rebuffed the pixel pickiness expressed by some courts and numerous commentators who had foster…

31. Oktober 2006 —CK - Washington.   Did Germany's surrender in 1945 trigger its loss of sovereign immunity so that Germany may be sued in American courts under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act? A German American heir to German tax debts failed to convince the United States District Court for the District of Colu…

20. Oktober 2006 —CK - Washington.   There is some debate in Germany whether lawyers may demand legal fees for the prosecution of their own claims. Generally, matters of minor significance which would ordinarily not require the engagement of an attorney do not trigger an award of legal fees. An October 16, 2006 decis…

18. Oktober 2006 —CK - Washington.   South Africa and West Germany did right by the victims of human rights crimes, World Court Judge Thomas Buergenthal indicated in his acceptance speech on October 17, 2006 at the International Law Center of Case Law School in Cleveland. Awarded the 2006 Frederick K. Cox Internation…

18. Oktober 2006 —CK - Washington.   A German law degree, Magister Iuris, to complement a foreign law degree is available at Göttingen University Law School. Handakte WebLawg links to the source and mentions an application deadline of January 15, 2007. German American Law Journal :: Washington USA…

8. Oktober 2006 —CK - Washington.   The owner of JurBlog announced on October 7, 2006 the suspension of his legal blog for fear of attacks by Islamic militants. He observed that the action may increase visits to his site. He blamed the statutory requirement of ownership identification for commercial websites and its…

2. Oktober 2006 —CK - Washington.   Beginning on January 1, 2007, corporate data from corporate registers will be available online through the central location www.unternehmensregister.de, the Berlin Attorney General announced on September 28, 2006. In addition, the registration and filing of corporate data with cor…

26. September 2006 —EE - Washington.   After posting the German Civil Code in English on September 6, the Department of Justice in Berlin has withdrawn the translation from their website. A notification on the department's website cites flaws in the translation as the reason for its removal. A number of blogs have comm…

24. September 2006 —CK - Washington.   The federal government enacted legislation to retain seized illicit gains of criminals. Currently, German criminal law provides that victims may claim such gains but if they fail to, the seized assets will eventually return to criminals, unless other asset forfeiture rules apply. …

23. September 2006 —CK - Washington.   The association of German American lawyers, Deutsch-Amerikanische Juristen-Vereinigung begins its annual meeting and conference on October 27. Through October 29, 2006, DAJV offers presentations and workshops on issues in legal relations between Germany and the United States, some…

21. September 2006 —CK - Washington.   A bill to combat computer crime is available for download from the Attorney General's office in Berlin. A press release of September 20, 2006 explains that the bill closed the last loopholes for crackers in the German Criminal Code. I have never seen final solutions in computer la…