Marburg-based medianetCom has registered its broadband video-on-demand technology operating under the name of "Cinema on Demand"at the European Patent Office in Munich.

Until now, the technology had only been protected in Germany as a registered utility model, but the international patent protection applies not just to the whole of Europe, but also to Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, the Russian Federation, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the USA and the United Arab Emirates.

"This is an important step on the way to the international establishment of our Cinema on Demand technology", medianetCom's CEO Frank Hackenbuchner declared. "The international patent now gives the process almost global protection against imitation and unauthorised third-party usage, and ensures the necessary legal security for successful international marketing".

In addition to pilot schemes throughout Germany, medianetCom recently signed a cooperation agreement between its French subsidiary and France Telecom for the launch of Cinema on Demand trials in France, and a pilot scheme is to go into operation in Austria during this year. media[netCom], whose shareholders include Kinowelt Medien and Highlight Communications (together 13.43%), began trading on Frankfurt's Neuer Markt on July 5 last year.