GEMA Prevails Against YouTube: Ban of Blocking Messages is Legal

Raue LLP has successfully completed the proceedings for collecting society GEMA regarding YouTube blocking messages. By order of 4 February 2016 (I ZR 120/15) the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) rejected a complaint against denial of leave of appeal by YouTube. The proceeding is now legally final.

In May 2015, the Munich Higher Regional Court had confirmed the ban imposed by the District Court of Munich on YouTube blocking messages. An appeal by YouTube was largely rejected, a revision not allowed. In February 2014, the District Court of Munich had considered the YouTube blocking messages reading „Unfortunately, this video is not available in Germany because it may contain music for which GEMA has not granted the respective music rights,“ to constitute an act of unfair competition. The court observed that the wording incorrectly implied that GEMA had failed to grant music rights to YouTube without any reason. According to the court’s judgment, the blocking messages are incomplete and misleading as YouTube completely cuts out its own contribution to the blocking of the videos, namely their refusal to pay royalties according to the official GEMA tariff.

GEMA and YouTube have been negotiating the conditions for YouTube’s use of GEMA-licensed music in their video clips for a long time. In this context, the YouTube blocking messages have caused resentments by users against GEMA. This decision now concludes year-long proceedings regarding the ban of blocking messages.