The district court of Berlin has ordered Kabel Deutschland to pay EUR45,760,836.97 to rights society VG Media.
The court’s decision is the first in a seven-year long litigation between VG Media and Germany’s largest cable operator.
Proceedings were started in 2006, when Kabel Deutschland refused to sign a licencing agreement with VG media over carriage of private radio and TV channels.
The agency first started proceeding wit the German patent and copyright body Deutschen Patent- und Markenamt, who ruled in favour of the claim. Now, the Berlin court has confirmed VG Media’s claim is legit. Kabel Deutschland is expected to appeal the decision.
VG Media said it already signed a total of over 1,5000 licence agreements in 2011 and 2012 with Unitymedia, Kabel Baden-Württemberg, Deutschen Telekom AG, Vodafone, Telecolumbus and Primacom as well as with smaller operators.
VG Media was joined in the proceedings collecting society GEMA, representatives of other collecting societies, as well as RTL Deutschland, ProSiebenSat.1 Media and a number of radio stations.
