Downton Abbey has been on TV in German, but I haven’t seen anything except the trailer, although I intended to see the repeats online to see how the dubbing worked. Anyway, my old entry on the entail has been getting some attention from viewers in the USA:
Downton Abbey and the entail/Downton Abbey und der Fideikommiss
Just before starting work again, here is what it looks like here in Fürth now:
I can’t help feeling that containers for Advent lights are being repurposed here.
This is what I saw on Saturday:
(Note the German indentation on the cushion in the shop window)
These are the Sternsinger – rather too many Three Kings. They did have real incense with them. I would have given them a donation after photographing them, but they were hastening off somewhere. According to Toytown Germany (link with picture), the “C + M + B” they chalk on the door means not “Caspar, Melchior und Balthasar”, but “Christus Mansionam Benedicat”. More in English in Wikipedia. I have never encountered the Three Kings Cake in Germany.
Meanwhile, a beaver has returned. It has been working on one tree only and I will have to see if it manages to fell it:
And finally, a photo showing what it looks like when rebuilding is about to take place and shops move out:
I’ve just been to London for a week, flying Lufthansa from Nuremberg with a change in Frankfurt. In both directions, my suitcase (checked-in baggage) did not make it. On the first journey, I was told the stopover in Frankfurt had been too short. The suitcase was delivered the next afternoon, about 24 hours after arrival. On the return journey, the suitcase was totally mislaid. I was told the label had torn off. It was delivered less than 48 hours later.
Advice for future trips: if you talk to Lufthansa staff in German, check how they translate what you say into English. Ein roter Band auf den Griff geklebt/ein roter Klebeband is not a red ribbon (eine rote Schleife). I did get them to change it to red tape, but that was only after I saw it online the next day.
It was also a pain walking 25 minutes to the next terminal to buy a toothbrush in London. I was told there were no shops where I landed.
One good thing at Heathrow:
Not only is my iPod being charged, but it has continental sockets on one side and UK sockets on the other.
How do you get to ride those carts at Frankfurt? It seems I am always attempting to run through the airport to catch the connecting flight, but I saw some Chinese people using one of those carts and was very envious.
It’s been widely reported today that Haribo (which markets a sweet called Goldbär – gold bear) won in a case against Lindt Sprüngli, which has been introducing a gold-foil-wrapped bear for Christmas. The court in Cologne held that people would refer to the Lindt product as ‘gold bear’, thus diluting the mark into which Haribo has pumped huge amounts of money in advertising. (No, commenters, the court did not say that people could not tell the difference between a ‘gummy bear’ and a chocolate bear). Die Welt (German):
Denn die meisten Verbraucher werden laut Gericht den “Lindt Teddy” naheliegenderweise und ungezwungen als “Goldbären” bezeichnen – und eben nicht als Teddy”, “goldene Bärenfigur”, “goldfoliierten Bär” oder als “goldfarbenen Schokoladenteddybär”.
Haribo konnte auf die Umfrage eines unabhängigen Meinungsforschungsinstituts verweisen: 95 Prozent der Verbraucher würden die traditionsreiche Wort-Bildmarke “Goldbär” kennen.
The Local (English):
But the judges said that shoppers were likely to refer to the Lindt product as a “Gold Bear” because of its appearance and thus dilute the Haribo brand.
“Most consumers would not use descriptions such as ‘golden bear figure’, ‘gold foil-wrapped bear’ or ‘gold-coloured chocolate teddy bear’… but rather the closest description, particularly considering how well-known the other brand is: Gold Bear,” it said in a statement.
The decision isn’t final – Lindt will be appealing. It was commented that this particular point of law – whether a word mark can be diluted by the appearance of another mark – has not been decided by the highest courts (höchstrichterlich), or that there has not been a fundamental decision (Grundsatzentscheidung).
Die Welt:
Eine höchstrichterliche Rechtssprechung gebe es zu einer solchen Kollision nämlich noch nicht, erklärte das Kölner Landgericht.
The Local:
“What is special about the case is that there has been no high court ruling on the issue of a collision between a brand name and a three-dimensional product design,” it said.
That is very American. It’s common in the USA to refer to the Supreme Court as the ‘high court’.
I’m not sure if the highest court here would be the Bundesgerichtshof or the Bundespatentgericht. At all events, to call such a decision a ‘landmark decision’ would not be correct. What is meant is a binding decision – not that Germany has an official system of precedent, but in practice it seems like that. A landmark decision is one that makes the news in a big way.
LATER NOTE: Guardian article – with mug shots of the two bears.
It’s not a secret that UK legal usage prefers the spelling judgment (Urteil) and general usage judgement (Urteilsvermögen).
I do sometimes wonder about mixing spellings in one text, but not so Lord Neuberger:
Judgments are the means through which the judges address the litigants and the public at large, and explain their reasons for reaching their conclusions. Judges are required to exercise judgement – and it is clear that without such judgement we would not have a justice system worthy of the name – and they give their individual judgement expression through their Judgments. Without judgement there would be no justice. And without Judgments there would be no justice, because decisions without reasons are certainly not justice: indeed, they are scarcely decisions at all. It is therefore an absolute necessity that Judgments are readily accessible. Such accessibility is part and parcel of what it means for us to ensure that justice is seen to be done, to borrow from Lord Hewart CJ’s famous phrase.
I’m not sure about the capitalization of Judgments.
The source is the first annual BAILII Lecture on 20 November 2012 , No Judgment – No Justice.
Via Binary Law
LATER NOTE: for more detail, commentary and links, see Peter Harvey’s post.
Delia Venables, who I’ve recommended before, was one of the earliest sources of internet information on law in the UK. Her website on legal resources for the UK and Ireland would take a long time to click around. I usually look at the information for lawyers, in particular newspapers and journals and the best new sites on the legal web.
She has recently made her newsletter for lawyers free to access online, although for the printed or pdf version there is still a subscription. The November/December 2012 issue includes the following topics:
* Nick Holmes provides an essential guide to eBooks – options, formats, devices, readers and digital rights management.
* Peter Garsden of Abney Garsden McDonald reviews the success of going paperless. It took over 7 years but it’s worth it in the end.
* Nigel Miller of Fox Williams provides 10 top tips for securing and managing domain names. Domain names are the basis of ecommerce.
* Barrister Amanda Millmore reviews the use of social media in the legal system – by police, as evidence, and in the community.
* Tom Hiskey describes his move from practice as a solicitor to running a legal technology startup company called “The Law Wizard”
* Sue Bramall of Berners Marketing compares the relative effectiveness of blogs and news sections. Which are best?
* Patti Havers describes the history of the Havers Directory and the new look, and new facilities of “Havers – Defining the Bar”.
There is a great deal of information on the site of interest not only to lawyers.