(1) Service providers are obliged, in accordance with section 1 (2), to ensure, as far as possible, by blocking or removal (blocking) that a work is not communicated to the public and will in future not be available for this purpose, as soon as the rightholder so requests and provides the information required for such purpose.
(2) Measures pursuant to subsection (1) may not result in the unavailability of content uploaded by users if the use is authorised by law or does not infringe copyright. Sections 9 to 11 apply to the use of automated procedures. Sentence 2 does not apply to uses of cinematographic works or moving images until the completion of their first communication to the public, in particular during the simultaneous transmission of sporting events, insofar as the rightholder requests this from the service provider and provides the necessary information for this purpose.
(3) Service providers must immediately inform the user of the blocking of the content uploaded by the user and must advise the user of the right to lodge a complaint in accordance with section 14.
(4) Start-up service providers (section 2 (2)) are not required to comply with subsection (1) as long as the average monthly number of unique visitors to the service’s websites does not exceed five million.
(5) It is rebuttably presumed that small service providers (section 2 (3)) are not obliged under subsection (1) with a view to the principle of proportionality.