Social Media Law in Germany: Certified IP Lawyer

Social Media Law in Germany and in Europe is becoming more and more popular and important. A lawyer specialized in Social Media Law (e.g. a Certified IP Lawyer) deals with various legal aspects (and also potential problems) in regards to Social Media platforms like Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Google+, etc., e.g. copyright law, unfair competition law and trademark law.

This relatively new field of law includes questions in connection with the following aspects:

  • sharing and liking (“like” / “like button”) of postings (e.g. third-party content like pictures, memes, videos or texts)
  • legal requirements of commercial pages (like “fan pages”) (e.g. imprint, provider identification)
  • disguised advertising
  • use of protected names (e.g. trademarks) as user or profile names
  • potential problems in regard to followers / fans (e.g. purchase and manipulation)
  • affiliate marketing
  • influencer marketing (marketing through social media influencers)
  • social media marketing (social marketing) / social media advertising
  • astroturfing (fake valuation)
  • social media monitoring (e.g. in regard to trademark violations)

A violation of German unfair competition law, trademark law or copyright law can lead to warning letters, preliminary injunctions or law suits, all of them with lawyer’s fees, potential court fees and even damages and other obligations. With this in mind it could be useful to proactively deal with the legal requirements of social media profiles and respective activities and to clarify questions with specialized lawyers before problems occur.

Dr. Florian Lichtnecker (German Lawyer, Certified IP Lawyer) has been dealing with various issues of Social Media Law for several years and is an author of various publications in magazines and co-author of a legal comment, and can be considered an expert in this area of law. In addition to typical services offered in connection with intellectual property and unfair competition law, our IP Law Firm is also offering social media training and social media consulting  for social media managers in Germany (specifically in relation to various legal aspects).

For further information about our services in this legal field, please visit our website or simply send an email to socialmedia@lichtnecker.com.