Copyright Censorship: Cologne Court orders us to take down Glyphosate Report (Update)
The Cologne Regional Court has issued an injunction ordering FragDenStaat to depublish a glyphosate report from the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment. The Federal Institute that belongs to Julia Klöckner’s Agriculture Ministry had already sent us a cease-and-desist letter.
The glyphosate report was financed by the state and written by civil servants. The fact that copyright is being misused as a censorship right is an attack on freedom of the press! If necessary, we will take the case to the European Court of Justice. You can request the report yourself with just one click!
The Regional Court ruled that the publication of the document constitutes a copyright infringement. FragDenStaat received the 6-page report from the Institute through a request under the German Freedom of Information Act. It deals with the cancer risks of the herbicide glyphosate.
FragDenStaat now calls on all people to also request the glyphosate report from the Federal Institute. For this purpose, we have created a button which can be used to easily file a request (no German knowledge needed). The authority must send the document to all applicants free of charge. However, it may not be published for the time being.
FragDenStaat will appeal the decision of the Regional Court. The court obviously did not pay enough attention to freedom of the press and European regulations on re-use of public information. Last week, FragDenStaat had already brought an action against the federal government before the Berlin Regional Court in the same case.
Update, 4 April 2019: In the first two days, more than 30,000 people requested the report. Thank you!