The online marketplace is in danger of losing out on the lucrative German market, and eBay has entered full panic mode in an effort to staunch the bleeding.

According to Spiegel.de, German internet provider Arcor has blocked porn sites Sex.com, YouPorn.com and another site for its 2.4 million users.

YouTube’s in trouble again, and this goes far beyond issues of copyright law; the German government, along with at least one major Jewish group, is angry about the presence of Nazi propaganda on the video-sharing site.

The problem with open societies, free speech, and Web 2.0 is that any ol’ jerk can believe and say anything they want. That you’d rather they didn’t is kind of your problem. But it’s a bigger problem for larger entities like YouTube and Google who provide the platform, or, since Microsoft’s not using it, the soapbox for the jerks to stand upon.

Bad news for Google in Germany after a court denied any further action against Daniel Giersch in order to wrangle the rights of the GMail trademark from him. Giersch began using the GMail mark in 2000, four years earlier than Google.

This is a stereotype, but at least it’s a positive one: the Germans are an efficient and precise people.  Now, for less of a stereotype and more of a fact: Wikipedia can be far from precise.  You may be surprised to learn, then, that the German government is going to give resources to the German version of the site.

An all-but-final loss of the Gmail trademark case in Germany and a newly-passed law on retaining personal information on its users has Google’s email service reeling.

In recent weeks and months, I’ve noticed that the Internet seems to have its own c-word: censorship.  I’ve also noticed that, like most companies, Yahoo wants nothing to do with this word.  So it wasn’t a huge surprise when Yahoo’s photo-sharing service, Flickr, relaxed its filters in Germany.

Earlier this week, we learned that Flickr had started supporting seven new languages.  Unfortunately, news has now come that Flickr is “filtering” – not censoring, mind you – content in several of those tongues.

Flickr Says No To German Photos

The Bavarian State Library has decided to partake in Googles project to scan books from the world’s great collections.  As one of the largest libraries in the German-speaking world, the library has around nine million volumes and will make around one million books available to Google search. 

In the U.S., “Gmail” is synonymous with “Google.” It looks like things are going to play out differently in Germany, however. The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) ruled today that Google can’t use the term.

Consumer groups from France and Germany have joined a European coalition aimed at forcing Apple to make files downloaded from its iTunes music store compatible with digital music players manufactured by competing companies.

The first Website to provide a vendor-independent assessment of online meeting tools has now gone live at Webconferencing-test.com (www.webconferencing-test.com). The portal provides comparisons of all leading solutions – including Microsoft Live Meeting, Macromedia Breeze (now called Acrobat Connect Professional) Webex, and GoToMeeting from Citrix.

Google Germany is running a Doodle in honor of the 16th anniversary of the day East and West Germany became one.

Google is locked in a trademark battle in Germany for the right to use the name Gmail for its mail service.

The next Big Nerd Ranch session of Perl Bootcamp occurs in Germany in September, and will cover Intermediate Perl.

The UK and Germany now have releases of Google Base for their Internet users; meanwhile, Ask.com has expanded its mapping imagery throughout Europe.

Adding to the calendar of events I’ll be speaking at during 2006 are two more I’ve agreed to take part in:

Microsoft takes down a Chinese language blog on MSN Spaces, while a German blogger’s appearance in Google rankings for a court’s name earns him a cease-and-desist letter from the court.

It’s bad news for 2,400 German employees as Berlin-based electronics company Siemens AG downsizes its staff as part of a “major restructuring” of Siemens Business Services (SBS). Siemens shares were up after the news.

Last Friday evening, MSN took their search toolbar to the International community by releasing an updated version, which increases the amount of language support given to foreign countries.