Mixer and imprint as well as other questions

Currently, Microsoft has started a real battle of the streaming giants with its streaming platform Mixer, as the software giant first acquired Ninja from Twitch and most recently Shroud. Ninja now generates 42 million streaming hours and Shroud 39 million hours.

In total, Mixer now has more than 200 million streaming hours per month.

So Mixer is definitely becoming an alternative to Twitch, and it’s expected that Microsoft will invest a lot more money to help Mixer grow. So some streamers should slowly consider whether they want to be active on mixers.

But what are the legal rules of the game? Basically no different to Twitch, because even if some collecting societies such as GEMA consider the providers of the platforms to be responsible (see this article), in most other legal issues the platforms will probably only be providers of the technology, so that the individual streamer is responsible for compliance with German laws.

In this respect, here is a small collection of articles about Twitch, which will probably be judged on mixers.

• Obligation to impress?
• Copyright on streams?
• Swastikas?
• Appearance with stage name?
• Taxes as influencers?
• Streamers and Social Security?

Relevant for well-known streamers who want to switch from Twitch to Mixer or possibly even be active on both platforms could be this article, which deals with what happens if someone on the other platform may have already used my name and how I can prevent someone from doing so in the future.

Of course, the questions for professional streamers also apply to mixers, whether it makes sense to set up professional structures such as contracts, company form and the like and how I organize this best. As for streamers on Twitch or Creator on YouTube, I can help here as well. This is especially true, of course, when considering whether you want to work on both platforms and therefore perhaps need help like co-streamers, but at the same time, but marketing, securing the brand and much more.

I will publish a few more articles on the topic of mixers and law in the near future, because there are still unanswered questions, for example, if you stream in English but live in Germany.

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.