Re: Berlin Wall

No law on the subject of the images and painted murals of the Berlin Wall has been enacted recently, but under German copyright law
(Sec. 59 of the German copyright Act) everybody is entitled to take
photographs of paintings or other artworks which are permanently located in streets or other public places. He is also entitled to publish these photographs without permission of the artists. The name of the artist has to be mentioned, if the artist had put it on the painting or if the name is known by the publisher.

The problems arise from the demolition of the Berlin Wall and from a potential conflict of laws:

As the biggest part of the Berlin Wall has been pulled down in 1990
(the parts with paintings have been sold) only a small part of the
paintings remained in the streets of Berlin and the "public domain." If you take photographs of these paintings (which are in poor condition today) you are free to publish them in Germany. Under German private international law only the publication in Germany is governed by German copyright law. If the artist seeks protection against the publication in a foreign state, according to the German private international law the law of the foreign state will apply.

Rechtsanwalt Arnd Boeken
Casimir, Vogt & Weinreich
Rechtsanwalte und Notare
Kurfurstendamm 66
10707 Berlin
http://www.anwaltskanzlei-cvw.de/
mailto:boeken[_at_]anwaltskanzlei-cvw.de
Tel.: 030-8847106-19
Fax: 030-8823598 Received on Thu May 11 2000 - 14:34:08 GMT