Current Articles

In this section you will find the latest publications by our lawyers

German Federal Court of Justice: Facebook must grant heirs full access to a deceased person’s account (Update 2020)

Note: This is an update to this author’s earlier articles from 2016, 2017 and 2018, see: Berlin District Court: Facebook must grant heirs access to a deceased person’s account (2016). Berlin Court of Appeals: Facebook is not obliged to grant heirs access to a deceased person’s account (2017) German Federal Court of Justice: Facebook must […]

Agile Software Development under German Law

Agile software development is a method of choice in many projects. It is generally regarded as a state-of-the art method that emphasizes flexibility and eventual results as opposed to more traditional approaches based on carefully laid-out plans, milestones, and schedules. Agile projects typically involve a collaborative effort of self-organizing and cross-functional teams formed not only […]

OLG Düsseldorf: Apple vs. Samsung: Injunctions against sale of certain Samsung tablet PCs in Germany

(Galaxy Tab 8.9 and Galaxy Tab 10.1; OLG Düsseldorf, Urteil vom 31. Jan. 2012, Az. I 20 U 126/11 and I 20 U 157/11) The Appellate Court of Dusseldorf has ruled on 31 January 2012 that the sale of certain models of Samsung tablet PCs – namely Galaxy Tab 8.9 and Galaxy Tab 10.1 – […]

The German Federal Court of Justice on online newspaper archives and personal rights of publicity (BGH, Urteil vom 30. Oktober 2012 – VI ZR 4/12)

A couple of days ago the German Federal Court of Justice has handed down an interesting decision regarding the question whether an individual may demand that his name be deleted from press articles in publicly available online newspaper archives, if the matter reported is long in the past and no longer currently relevant (Bundesgerichtshof, Urteil […]

Valve under pressure for forbidding transfer of user accountsterms and conditions to be illegal

Valve Corporation, the operator of the popular Steam online games platform, finds itself under pressure in Germany. This January (2013), the Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband, an important German consumer protection organization, has filed a law suit against Valve for alleged violation of consumer rights. Date: January 2013