Nothing is as old as yesterday’s newsfeed. Publishing has always been a high-paced environment. Social media platforms, ratings portals, and other digital distribution channels have accelerated this. Also, the question of when a statement becomes the subject of litigation has gained in importance. We address these challenges with a special team covering the right of free speech. According to sources such as JUVE, our market position is undisputed.
Press & Publishing
Everyone has their own opinion. And in times of social media, blogs, and forums, comment sections, and rating portals, everyone also has a platform to make this opinion public. What regrettably cannot be said of everybody, however, is that they have the proper etiquette necessary for good discussion culture. Ever more frequently, it is therefore necessary to clarify the boundaries between freedom of expression and insult or slander. It pays off that our lawyers already acquired a keen understanding in the print era for trial tactics and the handling of the injunctive relief, for example, when it comes to preserving the personality rights of public figures. Today, it is at least as important that we developed innovative consulting approaches at an early stage to adapt this expertise to the digital era.
Publishers and their distribution partners
We are also legal advisors to publishers and their distribution partners, though. Our technological and legal expertise enable us to find innovative approaches to dealing with the increasing expansion of the exploitation chain. Particularly in this area, our clients benefit from our linking of various practice groups: authors and publishers rely on our expertise in the movie industry when books are audio-visually adapted. Our IT and e-commerce expertise pays off when it comes to designing and drafting contracts for digital media.
Contracts and legal disputes
In addition, our expertise includes developing, designing, and negotiating contracts with authors, illustrators, photographers, translators, and publishers. Representing publishers in legal disputes with competitors and authors is also part of our work. When it comes to court proceedings, injunctive relief (both the obtaining of, and defense against, preliminary injunctions) plays a particularly important role. Exact knowledge of the different courts and their particularities allows us to represent our clients’ interests in the best possible way. Due to our long-standing and intensive court experience, we also have clear sensitivity for the right trial tactics for each individual case.
Digital publishing products
Our expertise in classical IT and in digitization and e-commerce issues enables us to advise publishers and their distribution partners competently with regard to developing and distributing digital publishing products. Our know-how in matters of film and TV, on the other hand, benefits publishers and authors when it comes to the audiovisual exploitation of their work.
Actively helping to shape the publishing industry
In cooperation with the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, we developed model contracts for publishers. These were published in the reference book “Recht im Verlag” [“Law in the publishing house”] (Wegner / Wallenfels / Kaboth, published by C.H. Beck), with contributions by our lawyers as editors and authors.
Awards
Lawyers from the Practice Group are regularly recognized with awards.
