A German court has ruled that smartphone footage of current events, such as natural disasters, is protected by copyright law. The Frankfurt am Main district court made the decision on Friday, in a case involving a video of a flood in Baden-Württemberg, taken by a private individual and licensed exclusively to a news agency.
A rival media company had published still images from the video without permission, prompting the news agency to take legal action. The court’s 6th civil chamber ultimately granted the news agency’s claim, ruling that even simple recordings without artistic merit fall under the protection of copyright law for moving images.
The judges concluded that the smartphone footage is protected by copyright, even if it lacks a film-like quality. The court found that the creator of the video had granted the news agency exclusive usage rights, entitling the agency to demand that the rival media company cease and desist from publishing the still images and pay damages. The verdict is not yet final.