• Mehr als 3 Millionen Wörter Inhalt
  • |
  • info@itmedialaw.com
  • |
  • Tel: 03322 5078053
Rechtsanwalt Marian Härtel - ITMediaLaw

No products in the cart.

  • en English
  • de Deutsch
  • Informationen
    • Ideal partner
    • About lawyer Marian Härtel
    • Quick and flexible access
    • Principles as a lawyer
    • Why a lawyer and business consultant?
    • Focus areas of attorney Marian Härtel
      • Focus on start-ups
      • Investment advice
      • Corporate law
      • Cryptocurrencies, Blockchain and Games
      • AI and SaaS
      • Streamers and influencers
      • Games and esports law
      • IT/IP Law
      • Law firm for GMBH,UG, GbR
      • Law firm for IT/IP and media law
    • The everyday life of an IT lawyer
    • How can I help clients?
    • Testimonials
    • Team: Saskia Härtel – WHO AM I?
    • Agile and lean law firm
    • Price overview
    • Various information
      • Terms
      • Privacy policy
      • Imprint
  • Services
    • Support and advice of agencies
    • Contract review and preparation
    • Games law consulting
    • Consulting for influencers and streamers
    • Advice in e-commerce
    • DLT and Blockchain consulting
    • Legal advice in corporate law: from incorporation to structuring
    • Legal compliance and expert opinions
    • Outsourcing – for companies or law firms
    • Booking as speaker
  • News
    • Gloss / Opinion
    • Law on the Internet
    • Online retail
    • Law and computer games
    • Law and Esport
    • Blockchain and web law
    • Data protection Law
    • Copyright
    • Labour law
    • Competition law
    • Corporate
    • EU law
    • Law on the protection of minors
    • Tax
    • Other
    • Internally
  • Podcast
    • ITMediaLaw Podcast
  • Knowledge base
    • Laws
    • Legal terms
    • Contract types
    • Clause types
    • Forms of financing
    • Legal means
    • Authorities
    • Company forms
    • Tax
    • Concepts
  • Videos
    • Information videos – about Marian Härtel
    • Videos – about me (Couch)
    • Blogpost – individual videos
    • Videos on services
    • Shorts
    • Podcast format
    • Third-party videos
    • Other videos
  • Contact
Kurzberatung
  • Informationen
    • Ideal partner
    • About lawyer Marian Härtel
    • Quick and flexible access
    • Principles as a lawyer
    • Why a lawyer and business consultant?
    • Focus areas of attorney Marian Härtel
      • Focus on start-ups
      • Investment advice
      • Corporate law
      • Cryptocurrencies, Blockchain and Games
      • AI and SaaS
      • Streamers and influencers
      • Games and esports law
      • IT/IP Law
      • Law firm for GMBH,UG, GbR
      • Law firm for IT/IP and media law
    • The everyday life of an IT lawyer
    • How can I help clients?
    • Testimonials
    • Team: Saskia Härtel – WHO AM I?
    • Agile and lean law firm
    • Price overview
    • Various information
      • Terms
      • Privacy policy
      • Imprint
  • Services
    • Support and advice of agencies
    • Contract review and preparation
    • Games law consulting
    • Consulting for influencers and streamers
    • Advice in e-commerce
    • DLT and Blockchain consulting
    • Legal advice in corporate law: from incorporation to structuring
    • Legal compliance and expert opinions
    • Outsourcing – for companies or law firms
    • Booking as speaker
  • News
    • Gloss / Opinion
    • Law on the Internet
    • Online retail
    • Law and computer games
    • Law and Esport
    • Blockchain and web law
    • Data protection Law
    • Copyright
    • Labour law
    • Competition law
    • Corporate
    • EU law
    • Law on the protection of minors
    • Tax
    • Other
    • Internally
  • Podcast
    • ITMediaLaw Podcast
  • Knowledge base
    • Laws
    • Legal terms
    • Contract types
    • Clause types
    • Forms of financing
    • Legal means
    • Authorities
    • Company forms
    • Tax
    • Concepts
  • Videos
    • Information videos – about Marian Härtel
    • Videos – about me (Couch)
    • Blogpost – individual videos
    • Videos on services
    • Shorts
    • Podcast format
    • Third-party videos
    • Other videos
  • Contact
Rechtsanwalt Marian Härtel - ITMediaLaw

BGH refers “cheat software” for game consoles to the ECJ

23. February 2023
in Copyright, Law and computer games
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0 0
A A
0
bghurteil
Key Facts
  • The First Civil Senate of the Federal Court of Justice deals with the admissibility of software distribution under copyright law.
  • The plaintiff distributes game consoles and computer games throughout Europe as an exclusive licensee.
  • The defendant's software makes it possible to circumvent restrictions in the plaintiff's computer games.
  • The Hamburg Regional Court largely upheld the plaintiff's claim, but dismissed the Higher Regional Court on appeal.
  • The Federal Court of Justice has again referred legal questions to the ECJ for clarification.
  • Both instances dealt with the question of the reworking of computer programs under copyright law.
  • After more than 10 years, further legal questions about cheat software remain unanswered.

The I. Civil Senate of the Federal Court of Justice, which is responsible among other things for copyright law, has, following the legal issues surrounding Bossland(in which the Federal Constitutional Court most recently ruled), once again to decide on the permissibility under copyright law of the distribution of software that enables the user to manipulate the program running on a game console.

Content Hide
1. Facts:
2. Previous process history:
2.1. Author: Marian Härtel

Facts:

As the exclusive licensee, the plaintiff distributes game consoles and computer games for them throughout Europe. Defendants 1 and 2 are companies in a group of companies that develops, produces and distributes software, in particular supplementary products for the plaintiff’s game consoles. Defendant 3 is a director of Defendant 2. Defendant’s software enabled users of Plaintiff’s game consoles to circumvent certain restrictions in Plaintiff’s computer games, for example, in a racing game, the restriction on the usability of a “turbo” or the availability of drivers. The defendant’s software products did this by modifying data that the plaintiff’s games store in the game console’s memory. The plaintiff complains that this constitutes an unauthorized reworking of its computer games within the meaning of Section 69c No. 2 UrhG.

Previous process history:

The Hamburg Regional Court granted most of the claims for injunctive relief, disclosure, and a declaration of liability for damages. By interfering with and changing the program flow of the plaintiff’s computer games by means of the defendant’s software through external commands, the plaintiff’s computer program is reworked. It makes no difference – neither from the user’s nor the author’s point of view – whether a change in the program flow is achieved by changing the game software or by changing data in the working memory.

On appeal by the defendant, the Higher Regional Court set aside the judgment of the Regional Court and dismissed the action. The Higher Regional Court dismissed the plaintiff’s appeal. The Higher Regional Court assumed that there was no reworking of a computer program within the meaning of Section 69c No. 2 UrhG. The defendant’s software merely interferes with the running of the plaintiff’s computer games by altering the data stored in the game console’s memory, but not the computer commands themselves. However, the program flow of a computer program does not belong to the subject matter of protection under Section 69a UrhG.

However, the plaintiff continues to pursue its claim in the appeal allowed by the Higher Regional Court.

The decision of the Federal Court of Justice “postpones” the legal questions once again and attempts to have numerous legal questions, some of which were already open at Bossland GmbH, clarified at the ECJ:

The Federal Court of Justice therefore stayed the proceedings and referred the following questions to the ECJ:

  1. If the scope of protection of a computer program under Art. 1 para. 1 to 3 of Directive 2009/24/EC if it is not the object or source code of a computer program or its reproduction which is altered, but another program running at the same time as the protected computer program alters the content of variables which the protected computer program has created in working memory and uses in the running of the program?
  2. If there is a reworking within the meaning of Art. 4 para. 1(b) of Directive 2009/24/EC if it is not the object or source code of a computer program or its reproduction which is altered, but another program running at the same time as the protected computer program alters the content of variables which the protected computer program has created in working memory and uses in the running of the program?

After more than 10 years in which I have handled legal issues, including in the area of cheat and automation software, for example for Bossland GmbH, and have represented numerous other clients in these legal matters against many large law firms, there are still legal questions that remain unanswered. Some have now been clarified by the Federal Constitutional Court, while others will probably soon have to be clarified by the Dresden Higher Regional Court. However, it is good to see that the BGH is now finally aware of the fact that such software and the associated distribution channels raise Europe-wide, if not worldwide, legal issues.

Marian Härtel
Author: Marian Härtel

Marian Härtel ist Rechtsanwalt und Fachanwalt für IT-Recht mit einer über 25-jährigen Erfahrung als Unternehmer und Berater in den Bereichen Games, E-Sport, Blockchain, SaaS und Künstliche Intelligenz. Seine Beratungsschwerpunkte umfassen neben dem IT-Recht insbesondere das Urheberrecht, Medienrecht sowie Wettbewerbsrecht. Er betreut schwerpunktmäßig Start-ups, Agenturen und Influencer, die er in strategischen Fragen, komplexen Vertragsangelegenheiten sowie bei Investitionsprojekten begleitet. Dabei zeichnet sich seine Beratung durch einen interdisziplinären Ansatz aus, der juristische Expertise und langjährige unternehmerische Erfahrung miteinander verbindet. Ziel seiner Tätigkeit ist stets, Mandanten praxisorientierte Lösungen anzubieten und rechtlich fundierte Unterstützung bei der Umsetzung innovativer Geschäftsmodelle zu gewährleisten.

Tags: BghComputerComputer gameComputer programDamagesDresdenFederal constitutional courtFederal courtGamesHamburgHamburg District CourtHigher Regional Court DresdenLawsuitLegal issuesLegal questionLizenzSoftwareUrheberrecht

Weitere spannende Blogposts

DNS Resolver as a DOER of copyright infringement?

DNS Resolver as a DOER of copyright infringement?
6. March 2023

The Leipzig Regional Court, in its 5th Civil Chamber, which I am unfortunately also very unpleasantly familiar with, has made...

Read moreDetails

Federal Court of Justice rules on cookie storage consent

ECJ: Cookies require explicit consent of users
7. November 2022

The I. Civil Senate of the Federal Court of Justice, which is responsible among other things for claims under the...

Read moreDetails

ECJ rulings on compensation for data protection breaches

District Court Frankfurt a.M. on the right to be forgotten
26. June 2024

Analysis of the ECJ rulings In its recent decisions C-687/21 and C-340/21, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) provided important...

Read moreDetails

Office 365 in schools illegal under data protection law

Office 365 in schools illegal under data protection law
7. November 2022

1. preliminary remark For years, there has been a debate in Germany about whether schools can use Microsoft's Office 365...

Read moreDetails

Spam is not limited to email

Spam is not limited to email
7. November 2022

Today I reported on this ruling of the OLG Nuremberg. Moving away from the actual legal issues surrounding advertising, the...

Read moreDetails

What is “digital property” and how can I benefit from it?

What is “digital property” and how can I benefit from it?
8. December 2022

Attention The term "Digital Property" refers to digital content created or acquired by a person and owned by that person....

Read moreDetails

Cologne Regional Court upholds strict influencer jurisprudence

Advertising with self-evident facts
7. November 2022

There is already a lot of content on my blog about the question of whether and when influencers and streamers...

Read moreDetails

Telefonica must pay out 225,000 euros in Easy Money credit to customers

Telefonica must pay out 225,000 euros in Easy Money credit to customers
7. November 2022

The 8th Senate of the Munich Higher Regional Court ruled that a Telefonica Germany customer should receive 224,840.02 euros plus...

Read moreDetails

Operator of a crowdworking platform is not to be regarded as an employer

Operator of a crowdworking platform is not to be regarded as an employer
6. December 2019

The Regional Labour Court of Munich has ruled that an agreement between a so-called crowdworker and the operator of an...

Read moreDetails
So langsam nimmt der Shop Form an
Internally

So langsam nimmt der Shop Form an

3. July 2025

Mein neuer ITMediaLaw-Shop füllt sich stetig mit Inhalten und Angeboten – von praxisnahen E-Books über umfassende Bundle-Pakete bis hin zu...

Read moreDetails
Dark Patterns: UX-Tricks im Visier von Gesetzgeber und Gerichten

Dark Patterns: UX-Tricks im Visier von Gesetzgeber und Gerichten

2. July 2025
Altersverifikation im Internet: Pflichten für Anbieter in Deutschland und Europa

Altersverifikation im Internet: Pflichten für Anbieter in Deutschland und Europa

30. June 2025
KI-Training und Urheberrecht: US-Gericht setzt auf Fair Use – was bedeutet das für KI und was gilt in Deutschland?

KI-Training und Urheberrecht: US-Gericht setzt auf Fair Use – was bedeutet das für KI und was gilt in Deutschland?

26. June 2025
KI-Codetools und Open-Source-Lizenzen: Risiken für Entwickler

KI-Codetools und Open-Source-Lizenzen: Risiken für Entwickler

25. June 2025

Podcastfolge

Rechtskette beim Spieleentwickler

Rechtskette beim Spieleentwickler

19. April 2025

In dieser kurzen Episode diskutieren Anna und Max die Bedeutung der Rechtekette im Game Development – ein zentraler Aspekt für...

Read moreDetails
Startups und Innovation in Deutschland – Herausforderungen und Chancen

Startups und Innovation in Deutschland – Herausforderungen und Chancen

25. September 2024
KI im Recht: Chancen, Risiken und Regulierung – der IT Media Law Podcast Episode 3

KI im Recht: Chancen, Risiken und Regulierung – der IT Media Law Podcast Episode 3

28. August 2024
Rechtliche Herausforderungen im Gaming-Universum: Ein Leitfaden für Entwickler, Esportler und Gamer

Was wird 2025 für Startups juristisch bringen? Chancen? Risiken?

24. January 2025
Leben als IT-Anwalt, Work-Life Balance, Familie und meine Karriere

Leben als IT-Anwalt, Work-Life Balance, Familie und meine Karriere

25. September 2024

Video

Mein transparente Abrechnung

Mein transparente Abrechnung

10. February 2025

In diesem Video rede ich ein wenig über transparente Abrechnung und wie ich kommuniziere, was es kostet, wenn man mit...

Read moreDetails
Faszination zwischen und Recht und Technologie

Faszination zwischen und Recht und Technologie

10. February 2025
Meine zwei größten Herausforderungen sind?

Meine zwei größten Herausforderungen sind?

10. February 2025
Was mich wirklich freut

Was mich wirklich freut

10. February 2025
Was ich an meinem Job liebe!

Was ich an meinem Job liebe!

10. February 2025
  • Privacy policy
  • Imprint
  • Contact
  • About lawyer Marian Härtel
Marian Härtel, Rathenaustr. 58a, 14612 Falkensee, info@itmedialaw.com

Marian Härtel - Rechtsanwalt für IT-Recht, Medienrecht und Startups, mit einem Fokus auf innovative Geschäftsmodelle, Games, KI und Finanzierungsberatung.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
  • Informationen
    • Ideal partner
    • About lawyer Marian Härtel
    • Quick and flexible access
    • Principles as a lawyer
    • Why a lawyer and business consultant?
    • Focus areas of attorney Marian Härtel
      • Focus on start-ups
      • Investment advice
      • Corporate law
      • Cryptocurrencies, Blockchain and Games
      • AI and SaaS
      • Streamers and influencers
      • Games and esports law
      • IT/IP Law
      • Law firm for GMBH,UG, GbR
      • Law firm for IT/IP and media law
    • The everyday life of an IT lawyer
    • How can I help clients?
    • Testimonials
    • Team: Saskia Härtel – WHO AM I?
    • Agile and lean law firm
    • Price overview
    • Various information
      • Terms
      • Privacy policy
      • Imprint
  • Services
    • Support and advice of agencies
    • Contract review and preparation
    • Games law consulting
    • Consulting for influencers and streamers
    • Advice in e-commerce
    • DLT and Blockchain consulting
    • Legal advice in corporate law: from incorporation to structuring
    • Legal compliance and expert opinions
    • Outsourcing – for companies or law firms
    • Booking as speaker
  • News
    • Gloss / Opinion
    • Law on the Internet
    • Online retail
    • Law and computer games
    • Law and Esport
    • Blockchain and web law
    • Data protection Law
    • Copyright
    • Labour law
    • Competition law
    • Corporate
    • EU law
    • Law on the protection of minors
    • Tax
    • Other
    • Internally
  • Podcast
    • ITMediaLaw Podcast
  • Knowledge base
    • Laws
    • Legal terms
    • Contract types
    • Clause types
    • Forms of financing
    • Legal means
    • Authorities
    • Company forms
    • Tax
    • Concepts
  • Videos
    • Information videos – about Marian Härtel
    • Videos – about me (Couch)
    • Blogpost – individual videos
    • Videos on services
    • Shorts
    • Podcast format
    • Third-party videos
    • Other videos
  • Contact
  • en English
  • de Deutsch
Kostenlose Kurzberatung