When does a customer review become advertising that must be attributed to the provider of a product? German courts have been dealing with this question for quite some time. The Bochum Regional Court (judgement of 21 November 2024 - 14 O 65/24) now had to decide in the case of a coffee roasting company, thereby supplementing the prevailing case law.
The federal states are on the way to regulating the monitoring of compliance with the BFSG by a standardised market surveillance authority. The current status and consequences are documented here.
With its decision today, the Federal Court of Justice has confirmed Apple's cross-market significance for competition. The group, which is the most valuable company in the world with a market value of over 3 trillion US dollars, is now subject to increased supervision by the Federal Cartel Office.
This article provides an overview of the transparency obligations contained in the AI Act. For the most part, these are vaguely formulated and leave a lot of room for interpretation with regard to their concrete interpretation and implementation. More clarity is only likely to be provided by the guidelines to be drawn up by the Commission and the practical guidelines to be prepared by the Office for Artificial Intelligence.
In the legal dispute Thomson Reuters v. Ross, a US court decides for the first time whether feeding an AI with copyrighted content is permitted under the Fair Use Doctrine. The District Court of Delaware says no, but not categorically, but rather on a case-by-case basis. In the present case, Ross is felled by the fact that it wanted to place its own competing product on the market with the help of information from a well-known US case law database. The decision is therefore not suitable as a "top or bottom" template for future cases. However, it opens up exciting perspectives and provides a breath of fresh air in the debate on AI and copyright.
If the employer and employee agree a variable remuneration in the form of a bonus in the employment contract, the payment of which is linked to the achievement of various targets that are unilaterally set by the employer, the employer is liable to pay damages to the employee if it sets the employee the targets so late that the target cannot have any incentive or motivational function for the employee (BAG, judgement of 19 February 2025, Ref. 10 AZR 57/24 ).
The debate about a minimum fare for journeys with platforms such as Uber or Bolt is gathering pace in Berlin. While the introduction of such a tariff sounds like a setback for the car hire industry at first glance, it could also open up new opportunities. The background to this is the Passenger Transport Act (PBefG), which stipulates strict conditions for the introduction of a minimum fare. § Section 51a of the PBefG only permits a minimum fare if this is necessary to protect the public transport interest. But what does this mean in concrete terms for the hire car industry?
A look at the US Copyright Office's assessment of copyright protection for AI products.
The rental costs for the additionally booked router must be listed in the contract summary for Internet and landline tariff contracts. This was decided by the Higher Regional Court of Cologne in its judgement of 10.01.2025 - 6 U 68/24.
In its judgment of 4 October 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that an apology may be sufficient as reasonable compensation for non-material damage under Art. 82 GDPR (ECJ, judgment of 4.10.2024, Ref. C-507/23).
In episode 69 of HÄRTING|fm, Fabian Reinholz, long-standing partner at Härting Rechtsanwälte, is our guest. This edition of the litigation series focusses on three IP disputes.
AI is playing an increasingly important role in the competition for technological pioneering roles. Companies are increasingly using AI assistants to automate processes or answer customer enquiries via chatbots, for example. However, the first AI agents are also finding their way into our everyday lives and are designed to take over complex actions and make decisions for us as "personal assistants". These new AI helpers have many advantages - but what risks and legal issues should companies take into consideration?
