Oliver Pocher (l.) and Boris Becker (archive photo) Photo: picture alliance / ASSOCIATED PRESS | Alastair Grant | Marco Steinbrenner
From BZ/dpa
The legal dispute between the former tennis star Boris Becker and the TV comedian Oliver Pocher has been renegotiated in court.
Neither Pocher (45) nor Becker (55) appeared on Monday at the appeal hearing in the Freiburg branch of the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court. A television report from the RTL program “Pocher – dangerously honest” is controversial. The court had already announced that a final decision was not expected at the meeting. (Case: 14 U 620/22)
A year ago, Becker failed in the first instance with a civil lawsuit against Pocher. The Offenburg regional court ruled at the time that the ex-tennis professional’s personal rights were not violated by the television broadcast from October 2020.
According to his lawyer, Becker demanded that the post no longer be sent and that it be deleted from the Internet. The former Wimbledon winner had challenged the Offenburg ruling.
Before the start of the appeal hearing, Pocher’s lawyer Patricia Cronemeyer said upon request that the first instance had weighed up the interests and given priority to freedom from satire. “There is simply no defamatory content, but rather a satirical and amusing TV report that deals with one of the most famous Germans due to current events,” explained the lawyer. “We are therefore confident that the Higher Regional Court will confirm the first instance judgment in favor of our client Oliver Pocher.”
Becker’s Offenburg lawyer Samy Hammad said before the start that he was still of the opinion that celebrities in Germany “don’t have to put up with everything.” “That is why it is important to continue this legal dispute.” According to the court, neither Becker nor Pocher were obliged to come to the hearing.