From “Dr Googleberg” to the “Google Book Settlement” - Some news from Germany

Some of the IPKat’s readers may have followed the recent intriguing political scandal surrounding former German defence minister and Germany's political superstar Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg (depicted below on the cover of a new biography about his life), who last Tuesday resigned from office following allegations that he had plagiarized large parts of his “summa cum laude” PhD thesis in Law.

Naughtily dubbed “Dr Googleberg” or “Baron cut and paste” by some parts of the German media, zu Guttenberg decided not to use his Phd title after the initial accusations of plagiarism broke, then wrote to his university (Bayreuth) and asked to “return” his PhD, with the university subsequently deciding to take his doctorate away for good. Further investigations at Bayreuth University are still pending.

The whole story has some interesting legal implications as plagiarising a thesis could qualify as “carrying an academic title without authorization” (section 132 German Criminal Code -unlikely to apply since the PhD was bestowed legally initially) as well as ”criminal disloyalty” (section 266 German Criminal Code “Untreue”) since zu Guttenberg allegedly ordered essays from the scientific services of the Bundestag and used them in his thesis without properly referencing this third party work and due to the fact that he should have only used the services for his work as a member of parliament, not for his personal use. Perhaps most importantly, plagiarizing other’s works without referencing them properly could be copyright infringement under section 109 German Copy Right Act (using someone else’s works non-commercially without authorization).

On the right - the thesis in question

For the copyright infringement provisions to apply the law requires that one of the authors of infringed texts filed a complaint with the relevant authorities (provided that the texts that been copied in the thesis were itself “creations” that fell within the ambit of the copyright act), unless there was a heightened damage to the “legal good copyright” so that there could potentially be a public interest in prosecuting this matter. (See here for a discussion of the criminal law implications (in German)).

It appears that none of the allegedly copied authors has so far filed an official complaint with the prosecution authorities and it is now up to the prosecution authorities in Hof, Bavaria to investigate further after zu Guttenberg resigned from all his official posts and as such is no longer covered by the immunity laws. The university of Bayreuth is also conducting further (internal) investigations as does an interesting internet project called "GuttenPlag Wiki", which appears to have established that more than half of the thesis has been copied.

This Kat was in Germany when the story broke initially and was intrigued by the very high approval ratings zu Guttenberg boasted before and after his resignation. It does hence not come as too much of a surprise that - in typical German fashion - the first third party trade mark application for the trade mark “Guttenberg” in classes 9, 14 and 25 [update: the exact goods covered are not yet published on the official register] has been filed at the German Patent and Trade Mark Office.

Merpel now wonders whether Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg may find a new career as the new Paul (see above right and IPKat posts here and here) Knut, Heidi)?

From Dr Googleberg to the ongoing “Google Book Settlement” class action which also affects German authors and right holders. On its website, the German Collection Society “VG Wort” now informs us that it has again written to Judge Denny Chin of the New York District Court in relation to the “Google Book Settlement” case (The Author’s Guild et al v Google, Inc., case no 1: 05-cv-08136 (DC)).

In its letter to the court of 14 February 2011 (which can be retrieved via VG Wort’s website by clicking here (in English)) the German Collection Society requests an extension of the court deadlines for claiming a cash payment by 31 March 2011 and for claiming the complete removal of works by 5 April 2011. The extension of time should be granted in an interim ruling. VG Wort argues that since it was at present uncertain whether a settlement would be approved by the court, “(VG Wort) cannot be expected to incur the heavy administrative costs which would be involved” (...) “in determining the current status of German books under the existing terms of the settlement.” Furthermore, VG Wort also stresses that it was at present still unclear which German works would be covered by the potential settlement. VG Wort had already submitted an amicus-curia brief to the court ahead of the fairness hearing of 18 February 2010 (see Amerikat's report here) in which it had criticised that it was difficult and almost impossible to determine which authors and publishers were affected by the settlement.

Certainly not the last chapter in this matter.

The marketing of octopus Paul

Our readers may remember Paul (left), the psychic octopus, who became a global sensation when he correctly predicted the outcome of all Germany games in the recent football World Cup as well as the result of the World Cup final. Paul clearly has become a strong brand (see the IPKat post here and reports on Marques Class 46 here, here , here and here)) and somewhat bizarrely still makes the international headlines long after the World Cup.

A short selection of Paul stories: RTL recently reported that a Russian company was interested in hiring Paul as a "bookie", whereas German magazine Der Spiegel informed us that an American composer Parry Gibb composed a love song for Paul ("Paul the octopus, we love you") which can be experienced on YouTube. The Telegraph then reported that Kazakh bookmakers were "furious at Paul" and blamed him for "their paltry World Cup profits", whereas Chinese website Xinhuanet reported that the Chinese comic suspense film "Kill Paul Octopus" will open in Chinese cinemas in August. Paul, also made an enemy: The Telegraph today reported last week that Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proclaimed that Paul symbolizes the "decadence and decay" of the Western world. In the latest news today, we learn from the Austrian Der Kurier that Paul will now also record an album of Elvis songs ("Paul The Octopus Sings Elvis"). I still have hope that the latter was meant to be a satirical article but I fear that this is a genuine news item.

So, how long do we think it took for the first Paul trade marks to appear? You guessed correctly, not very long. Interestingly but not surprisingly, the trade marks were applied for by different applicants.

German trade mark Paul das Orakel was already filed on 2 July 2010, Community trade mark No. 009240532 Polpo Octopus Paul was filed on 12 July 2010 as where two German trade marks in the name of Sea Life Deutschland GmbH, the zoo where Paul resides. Further creative Paul marks, such "Paul die Krake” (Krake is German for octopus), “Oracle Paul” and “Okrakel Paul“, were subsequently also filed by different applicants (for more details, see Marques Class 46 reports here, here , here and here).

However, the marketing of Paul is far from over. Today, we read in Der Spiegel that Paul has landed a marketing deal with German supermarket chain REWE. According to Der Spiegel has has so far "...received more than 160 endorsement offers, including a book deal" and, brace yourself, Paul now also has an agent.

This Kat can't help wondering whether this is a cultural phenomenon, since it is rather reminiscent of the (German) trade mark craze over the polar bear cubs Knut, Flocke and Co (see IPKat reports here and here)?