A castle in Thuringia may be referred to as a "lost place". This was decided by the Munich Local Court (AZ: 142 C 14251/20). In this case, an American company that owns the castle sued for damages due to copyright infringement. The defendant showed photos of the castle, including the interior, on its website and referred to it as a "lost place".
The American company considered the unauthorized production of the images and the unlawful intrusion to be an infringement of foreign copyright and the statement that it was a "lost place" to be untrue. It demanded 3,000 euros in damages. The company based the sum on a flat rate for a license that a film crew of up to four people would have had to pay for filming.
The defendant argued that the castle is a ruin that is freely accessible. Furthermore, the company had not suffered any damage as a result of the photos being taken. The court took a similar view and dismissed the claim. On the one hand, the company was not the creator of the castle and had very probably not built it. On the other hand, it was an "obviously true factual assertion" if the castle was described as a "lost place".
Source: justiz.bayern.de/AZ: 142 C 14251/20
© Fotolia
