The Federal Court of Justice has overturned a judgment in the copyright dispute between the car manufacturer Porsche and the heirs of the former chief designer Erwin Komenda over the design of the successful 911 model.
Komenda's daughter has been trying to assert claims for financial participation for a long time.
The Stuttgart Higher Regional Court had recently rejected the request.
So the daughter now has a small chance of getting money afterwards.
Komenda was involved in the development of the Porsche 356 vehicle model, which was produced from 1950, and its successor model, the Porsche 911, which was built in 1963.
The extent of his involvement in the design of these models is debatable.
Komenda is considered to be the originator of the exterior design of the body for the predecessor model, the Porsche 356. However, according to the Higher Regional Court, this served at best as a suggestion for the series from the 2010s of the successor model, the 911.
This does not result in any right to participation under copyright law.
Komenda's daughter Ingrid Steineck failed in the process at the time.
According to the BGH, the lower court had not dealt with an offered testimony on Komenda's authorship of the original model of the Porsche 911.
This statement by the plaintiff's husband was only submitted after a period had expired.
However, the Higher Regional Court should have dealt with whether it was still permissible, the civil senate of the Federal Court of Justice has now ruled.
According to the carmaker, the 911 was designed by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche.
The company now stated: "Porsche AG is still assuming that the judgment of the Higher Regional Court in Stuttgart will remain in favor of Porsche." “.