The German Impressum
How much does the German Impressum, the legal disclaimer and copyright notice found on most german language based websites, actually validate within a foreign language environment? The German „Teledienstgesetz“ and „Mediendienst Staatsvertrag“ are meant to create this legal base for German websites. But what a German website is… this is the difficult question sometimes. One of my lectors asked me about four cases and I came up with the following conclusions – now if someone has more insight into this topic, feel free to comment.
Does German copyright apply to:
1) any website which can be viewed in Germany?
I believe this first case is impossible since german law cannot regulate international law and the law of other countries. If this would be the case, German law could forge some international TORT – or not?
2) any website in German, even if hosted elsewhere in the world?
If a US American citizen prefers to write in german because his ancestors lived in Germany or whichever reason this person has, how may the German government ever influence this decision of the author unless he/she is violating international law or his/her local law (i.e. US law). This sounds impossible for me, too.
3) any website made by a German citizen?
Since the TDG and MDStV are regulational laws for German citizens, this applies to all German citizens. Now here’s the catch! Where exactly does the website exist? On a server hosted in Germany or elsewhere in the world? In the first case, the German law applies. But for the second one, German law must find a backdoor in international law to contort the whole issue.
Am I liable under German law if I write my thoughts on a website in the USA or France as in a) server hosted, b) domain name registration (de, fr, us,…) and even worse c) if I use a foreign country’s dial-up account to post my critical thoughts on this particular website.
This here is an idea that makes the whole issue about the TDG and MDStV becoming useless: How will German law react if I write on a „de“ website which is hosted in France while I have a dual citizenship for Germany and the USA?
4) any website made in Germany, even if in English and intended for use elsewhere?
This is similiar to above I think, because I can design and maintain a website for anybody in the world. If I as German citizen have the most valuable business contact to a French company and decide to publish their material on a german language based website (i.e. www.french-german-connection.de), will I be the one who is held liable for distributing the material written for somebody else or is it the foreign company for which I only do the provision of service?
On the other hand, I believe the idea to publish english content as a German citizen or company is a question of authority. Just because your language differs from the national language, I am still bound to my national law – in this case the German law. Even if I am German and write in i.e. Sorbian or Frisian, it’s still a matter for German law.
In the end, the „Impressumspflicht“ is mainly a security mechanism for the parties involved to hold one person liable for any misues or copyright issues AND uphold regulations which apply in special cases. The „Impressum“ for an AG must include certain information which may not be included in an „Impressum“ for private persons (like myself), or Doctors or Lawyers must include special information just to make sure no other opponent will file a lawsuit against them.
Here’s some resource from the german Law-Blog on http://www.law-blog.de/archives/000103.html which refers to the „Teledienstgesetz“ and „Mediendienst Staatsvertrag“.
