Munich  - A German court on Wednesday partially lifted a ban on a British publisher giving out reprints of old Nazi newspapers.

The restriction was imposed by the state of Bavaria, which argued it had copyright over the newspapers.

The district court in Munich ruled that Peter McGee's popular history series Zeitungszeugen could include reprints dating to the end of 1938 but not later.

Earlier this year, police confiscated thousands of copies of Zeitungszeugen that contained republished facsimiles of Nazi-era papers.

The reprints included Nazi emblems such as swastikas, publication of which is a punishable offence in Germany.

Bavaria asserts copyright control over most Nazi newspapers and the dictator Adolf Hitler's autobiography Mein Kampf, and forbids their reproduction.

The court ruled that publication of papers dating up to the beginning of 1939 did not infringe the copyright, which expires after 70 years.

Jewish leaders have warned that republishing the Nazi-controlled newspapers could be dangerous, whilst the German government had said neo-Nazis might collect the Nazi newspapers. (dpa)