Background The plaintiff operates a local radio station in Hamburg. The defendant, the Ligaverband, holds the marketing rights for all football matches of the Bundesliga, the German football league. Until 2001, the plaintiff broadcasted during its regular programmes short live reports from home games of the Hamburger Sportverein (“HSV”) and the 1. FC St. Pauli (“St. Pauli”), two football clubs. The plaintiff's sports reporters had access to the press galleries, to press conferences and to the football pitch for post-match interviews. Starting with the season 2001/2002, the defendant asked the plaintiff to pay a fee as compensation for being granted the right to broadcast live reports from HSV and St. Pauli matches. The
The German Federal Court of Justice holds that the rights holder of the Bundesliga football matches did not abuse of its dominant position by asking a radio to pay a fee for live broadcasting (Ligaverband)
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