Overview
- Germany’s Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe ruled Thursday that Maike Kohl-Richter has no right to the author’s profit information or to damages over the 2014 book based on talks with Helmut Kohl.
- The court said written or transcribed statements do not count as economic parts of a person’s rights, while a voice or an image could support a profit claim if used commercially.
- Judges affirmed a duty of confidentiality arising from Kohl’s memoir collaboration with ghostwriter Heribert Schwan, finding the interview material was not free to use for the later book.
- Some passages remain barred from publication, and the Higher Regional Court in Cologne must now hold new hearings to decide whether more text must be blacked out.
- Earlier, Kohl won a €1 million award in 2017 that never became final before his death, and with co-author Tilman Jens deceased, Schwan is the sole remaining defendant in the ongoing case.