Competition & Advertising

With the amending Regulation (EU) 2024/2822 and the recast Directive (EU) 2024/2823 , the EU legislator has comprehensively modernised the design law that has been in force since 2002. The aim is to adapt the system to technological developments - in particular digital designs and 3D printing -, simplify procedures and harmonise the internal market.

The federal states are on the way to regulating the monitoring of compliance with the BFSG by a standardised market surveillance authority. The current status and consequences are documented here.

On 21 March 2025, the Regional Court of Cologne (case no. 84 O 29/24) prohibited an airline from advertising with flat-rate CO₂ compensation promises.

Digital contracts - Consumer protection - Making web processes legally compliant What many online shops are (still) doing wrong Digital benefits, free deliveries, bonus points: More and more shops are offering additional packages that customers can book for a one-off fee. These models often run for twelve months, end automatically - and are popular with consumers. However, there is always one problem: there is no cancellation option. The assumption behind this: "The contract ends anyway." But this can be legally problematic and can quickly become a risk in practice.

In a ruling dated 26 February 2025 (case no. 5 U 11/24), the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court of Hamburg confirmed the dismissal of the action brought by the Federal Association of Consumer Organisations against a Hamburg-based energy supplier.

In its judgement of 3 April 2025 - 4 U 29/24, the Court of Appeal ruled that an image campaign by an undertaker with false claims does not exceptionally constitute an infringement of competition law, as it does not already constitute a commercial act within the meaning of the UWG.

In a decision dated 10 March 2025, the Hessian Regional Labour Court ruled that the unauthorised forwarding of professional content to a private email account can lead to exclusion from the works council. (Hessisches LAG, judgement of 10 March 2025, Ref.: 16 TaBV 109/24).

In its ruling of 6 February 2025 (case no. 15 U 43/24), the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court of Hamburg dismissed all competition law claims brought by the manufacturer of the well-known "Geo-Cube" necklaces against three cube necklaces sold via otto.de. The court found that the low-priced competitor products did not constitute an avoidable misrepresentation of origin or unfair exploitation of reputation and also clarified that the scope of protection under Section 4 No. 3 UWG remains narrow in the case of merely average competitive character.

In its judgement of 16 April 2025 (case reference: 10 AZR 80/24), the Federal Labour Court ruled for the first time that a contractually agreed commission claim can also be fulfilled in the cryptocurrency Ether, provided this is objectively in the employee's interest. It should be noted that the part of the salary that is within the garnishment-free limit is excluded from this. This non-garnishable amount of pay must continue to be paid out in euros.