Germany: German university in Mainz has to release sponsor-contracts worth several millions
by Ingo Beckendorf The German Johannes Gutenberg-university in Mainz is obliged, to release its contracts with a sponsor to a journalist. That was decided by verdict of the Mainzer administrative court on May 11th 2016 (Az.: 3 K 636/15).
In the case, the chief-reporter of the German public broadcaster “Südwestrundfunk” (SWR), Thomas Leif, brought an action against the university for the release of documents regarding the cooperation-contracts between the pharmaceutical cooperation Boehringer-Ingelheim and the university.
The contract-partner of the university, the society Boehringer Ingelheim, is the biggest researching pharma-cooperation in Germany. The owners donated 100 million Euro to the university in…