From the viewpoint of the plaintiff, it is a partial success, from the defendant's point of view, further evidence that "after more than five years of processing, little substance has been achieved". On Wednesday, the district court of Cologne ruled that the author Heribert Schwan is no longer allowed to distribute numerous passages from his book published in 2014 "Legacy The Cabbage Protocols".
The widow of the deceased former Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Maike Kohl-Richter, was sued. She also had claims against the belonging to Random House book publisher Heyne claimed - this rejected the court, however (Az .: 28 O 11/18).
The citations involved are about 50 pages of the book, they were not counted exactly because of the abundance. In a previous case, the court had already challenged 116 text passages. Since then, Schwan has not been allowed to publish it; the publisher had to blacken out the spots - which was probably only the e-book version since the printed edition had long since been out of print. What the new verdict for the further publication of Kohl quotes mean, you could only decide if the grounds for the judgment, said the Heyne-Verlag in a first opinion.
Swan has to disclose revenue
The Cologne judges also decided that Schwan must disclose the revenue he has earned by selling the memoirs. In the next step, Kohl-Richter can then sue for damages. About the amount of the sum is not known.
In the opinion of the judges, the biographer violated his contractual obligations to secrecy. The evidence had convinced the court that Kohl had to be confidential when talking to Schwan.
Schwan and the Kohl attorneys have been delivering uncompromisingly fought battles over the courts of Cologne over the interpretive sovereignty of the former Chancellor's political life for five years. The later opponents were formerly a well-functioning team. Kohl engaged Schwan as a ghostwriter and had him write three volumes of his memoirs.
Before the release of the fourth and last band, there was a break. Schwan took the 200 tapes and created in 2014 the work, which should afterwards bring him much trouble. For Kohl had apparently given him no explicit permission to use the records.
Oliver Berg / DPA
Heribert Swan
Why, Kohl knew that best himself. Because the bands are, according to Swan, not only a factual processing of Kohl's political achievements, the former chancellor also etched against numerous companions, starting with his foster-child Angela Merkel on Christian Wulff, Richard von Weizsäcker to Lady Diana.
Kohl had never denied the authenticity of the quotes. He insisted, however, that they had been confidential. This has confirmed the Cologne district court once again. Kohl himself had become frail for a legal dispute, but his wife Maike continued the lawsuit. Schwan never made a secret of his contempt for Kohl's second wife. In his book he wrote, "And suddenly such a woman ruled over him."
Kohl-Richter argues for a million-dollar payment
Last year, Schwan had escaped paying a record $ 1 million in compensation to the cabbage widow imposed by the district court. The higher regional court condemned the decision on the grounds that a compensation for the personal satisfaction of the victim was intended and this is possible only during life and not inheritable to the widow. Kohl died on June 16, 2017. The Federal Supreme Court has not yet decided on the revision.
Maike Kohl-Richter also suffered several defeats on Wednesday. Their complaint against the SPIEGEL publishing house was rejected as far as possible. Accordingly, the widow has been entitled to injunctive relief only in four out of 132 contested quotations or information that SPIEGEL published in connection with the publication of the book.
In the opinion of the Chamber, the Kohl widow can not assert any claims against Schwan's co-author and the publisher where the memoirs were published. Unlike Swan, both defendants have no "contractual relationship with the former Chancellor," the court said. Take this "with great satisfaction to note," said the Heyne-Verlag on Wednesday, the verdict is a "sensitive defeat" for Kohl-Richter.
This dispute between Schwan and the Kohl widow with the decision of the district court is not over. Both parties want to appeal.