The German Bundestag passed an addendum to the country’s copyright laws earlier today, the so-called “Leistungsschutzrecht,” that allows publishers to charge aggregators and search engines for the content they index and re-publish on their sites and in their apps. → Read More
Facebook has won a court challenge against its real names policy in Germany. Yesterday an administrative court in the North of Germany granted Facebook’s request for “suspensive effect” against a ruling made by Schleswig-Holstein’s Data Protection Commissioner that Facebook was violating German and European law. → Read More
Google is sounding a warning klaxon about a proposed law change in Germany which aims to strengthen copyright law for publishers by requiring search engines and online news aggregators to pay a royalty to display snippets of copyrighted text — such as the first paragraph of an article displayed within a Google News search. If the law passes, fines would be imposed for unlicensed use of snippets. → Read More
When you search for “Bettina Wulff” on Google, the search engine will happily autocomplete this search with terms like “escort” and “prostitute.” That’s obviously not something you would like to be associated with your name, so the wife of former German president Christian Wulff has now, according to Germany’s Süddeutschen Zeitung, decided to sue Google for defamation. The reason why these terms… → Read More
Google today quietly rolled out movie rentals in Germany. German Google users have long been able to buy movies through the Play Movies store, but according to German blogger Carsten Knobloch, the rental feature only went live earlier today. So far, Google hasn’t officially announced this launch and the Google Play help page doesn’t acknowledge it either, but a growing number of German users now … → Read More
99designs, the polarizing crowdsourced design marketplace, announced its first acquisition tonight, as the Accel-backed startup scooped up its European rival, 12designer, for an undisclosed amount. In the near-term, 12designer will continue to operate as a standalone site.
Since raising $35 million from Accel, 99designs has been focused on international growth, said Patrick Llewellyn, the… → Read More
Some more consolidation in the adtech space: the German logistics, communications and postal giant Deutsche Post DHL has acquired IntelliAd, a German online marketing agency that specialises in optimizing search ad buys, as part of a larger strategy to make a bigger push into online advertising and marketing.
Financial terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed; we’ve contacted both… → Read More
Another development in the ongoing fight between Apple and Motorola over patent infringements in Germany: a court has decided against Apple Inc. in a case involving push email service on iCloud and MobileMe services in the country. This is effectively an extension of the same ruling that was originally handed down in February against Apple International, a case that Apple is appealing.
A judge… → Read More
Another development in the very long and winding road of mobile patent disputes: Apple has now had to disable the push email function used through MobileMe/iCloud, after a court ruled earlier this month that Apple had infringed on a Motorola patent claiming IP on push email.
A spokesperson from Apple told TechCrunch that the turn-off happened overnight, and that it will be appealing the ruling. → Read More
It sometimes feels like a absurd story without an ending, trying to track who is attacking whom in the mobile patent game. But Google has now secured one patent that may demonstrate how companies are figuring out ways of getting around would-be infringement issues — and possibly produce more differentiated products in the process.
A Google patent, published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark… → Read More
Conceptboard, a virtual whiteboard startup, which was in the news recently with their G+ Hangout feature, just announced that’ve raised “a 6-figure funding round” from two German investors. Details of the investment have not been shared publicly, but TechCrunch has learned that it was around 500.000 euros.
It’s the startups series A round, and was led by Germany’s HighTech Gründerfonds and… → Read More
German researchers are testing a unique form of public transportation that borrows the best from busses, electric cars, trains and trams without contributing emissions. The vehicle, named AutoTram, is fully electric, but instead of running on a single charge, it charges when it stops, gaining enough power in 30 seconds to move another mile.
The project comes from the Fraunhofer Institute for… → Read More
The discussion regarding copycats of US startups in europe is still an ongoing one, and largely due to the fact that the copycats are often heartless rip-offs. DaWanda, a marketplace for DIY goods, took the successful concept of Etsy, which was founded in 2005, to Europe and has since then grown into a company with 65 employees and 1,9 million products for sale.
But in contrast to other “clones”… → Read More
Gute Nachrichten! The Kindle is now available in Germany and includes 650,000 titles as well as thousands of free German classics including (as far as I know) “Wurst And Peace,” “Anne Of Oktoberfest,” and “A Tale Of Two Lagers.” → Read More
Genesis is not just a neat sounding word that someone thought would make for a good watch brand name. It is rather the name of the brand’s founder and designer – Christine Genesis. How convenient is that? To have a cool last name like that? Christine is a rare breed being a full-on watch maker and a female. I wouldn’t make a big deal of that fact if it was more common. I for one applaud the idea… → Read More
It certainly looks that way. The country has been having a national discussion ever since the Japan nuclear crisis, and the consensus seems to be that nuclear isn’t worth the risk. Instead, the country will embrace alternative forms of energy, including renewable sources. → Read More
It’s about time that somebody took the highly efficient Kickstarter crowdfunding model, added a dash of gaming metrics, and applied it to something that’s purely about benefiting society. This is great.
YouHelp, a recently launched Austrian startup, is doing just that. It enables users to create “challenges” that benefit certain NGOs or participate in ongoing social fund raising. To date, the… → Read More
Skobbler, best known for its free sat-nav app for iPhone, has entered the world of gaming. GeoBrain for iPhone and iPad is described as “a fun yet educational game experience that tests and trains geo-knowledge.” Basically, you spin a giant globe and answer questions to demonstrate your knowledge of the world. Fun, huh? OK, it’s probably no Angry Birds.
The idea is to build on Skobbler’s… → Read More
Madvertise, the Berlin-based mobile ad network, has added location-based targeting to its array of options – a first in Germany, claims the company.
Advertisers can now reach customers based on their exact GPS location, city, region or state. This is in addition to existing targeting such as channels, carriers, operating systems and devices, which, says madvertise, allows for relatively accurate… → Read More
Blue Lion Mobile, the German company behind mobile gaming and entertainment social network qeep, has raised a multi-million euro B round led by French VC firm XAnge with co-investment from KfW.
In addition, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, who originally invested in Blue Lion’s Series A round back in 2007, has also participated. The precise amount of the round isn’t being disclosed but is… → Read More
Lovefilm, the Netflix-of-Europe, has rolled out its streaming service in Germany, albeit in Beta. Previously, Germans only had access to the DVD and Blu-ray rental via the post element of Lovefilm, but slowly but surely the company is growing its video-on-demand proposition.
Subscribers of Lovefilm.de can now stream films to their PC as part of their subscription package. Content comes from major… → Read More
The first ever electric vehicle with Quattro is still a few years away, but we were invited to Ingolstadt, Germany to try one out. E-tron is the name of Audi’s new line of electric vehicles including an R8 and an A1. We didn’t get to drive the red concept E-tron that’s all over the internet, instead we drove one that looked and drove more like a real production car. The supercar… → Read More
Google may have ended its feud with the Federal Trade Commission, but its standing in Europe isn’t as cut-and-dry. Street View, the mapping service that has caused much consternation, has just gone live in Germany, but in a modified form. So far, the only place where it’s gone live is Oberstaufen in Munich → Read More
German trade publication W&V is reporting that Holtzbrinck, one of Germany and Europe’s leading publishing groups, is shutting down their incubator “Holtzbrinck eLab”, launched in 2006.
Holtzbrinck is famous for backing some of the most successful German Internet startups and also for acquiring not so successful companies. Most notably, StudiVZ, the early Facebook clone, which it purchased… → Read More
There’s probably hundreds of sites out there that are trying to sell customized things on the web. MyMuesli, a successful and still growing German startup was one of the first ones in that field and they paved the way for these types of e-commerce websites. Furthermore they showed that there is apparently a demand for pricey yet customizable cereals.
Chocri, a site for mass-customization of… → Read More
A new law in Germany could soon make it illegal for employers to check out prospective job candidates on Facebook and other non-career focused social networks, according to local newspaper reports.
Bizarrely, however, it will still be legal to “google” applicants, although they are to disregard information that is either too old or outside of a candidate’s control. Social networks specifically… → Read More
What’s cooler than a rotating house? One whose solar panels produce five times the energy the house uses. That’s pretty incredible, considering that even zero-energy structures are rare.
German architect Rolf Disch built the home, called Heliotrope, to follow the sun throughout the day. The structure features triple panes of thermally insulated glass to strike a balance between letting light in… → Read More
It’s a trend that is highly unlikely to happen in the US due to its ubiquitous privatization of, well, everything. However in good old Europe, where control of the media is often under the hood of governmental institutions such as the BBC in the UK, or ARD in Germany, on the one hand, and in the hands of private media companies on the other, problems can arise.
More recently this has happened to… → Read More
Yoose, a Berlin-based mobile coupon startup, just launched into their public beta phase. The idea behind Yoose is to provide a multi-level distribution platform for Coupon publishers, such as local businesses or larger firms that plan to target specific campaigns with coupons.
However, it took the company quite a while to deliver its service – two years to be precise. After being a finalist at… → Read More
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