The statement “15 percent off everything” is anticompetitive when featured in advertising if key products are excluded. And adding an asterisk does not change this, according to Hamburg’s regional court, the Landgericht (LG) Hamburg. Generous discounts on “everything” are designed to entice consumers. Only on closer inspection does it become clear that the term “everything” […]

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A juice bottle bearing a strong resemblance to a more established model from another manufacturer shall no longer be stacked on supermarket shelves following a ruling of the Landgericht Hamburg – Hamburg’s regional court – from January 13, 2022 (case ref.: 312 O 294/21). Signs that are capable of distinguishing goods or services from the […]

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Amsterdam Trade Bank (ATB) is bankrupt. Fortunately, the bank’s thousands of German depositors are also covered up to 100,000 euros under the Netherlands’ deposit guarantee scheme. The sanctions imposed on Russian banks in response to the war in Ukraine are also affecting their European subsidiaries, notably Sberbank and now Amsterdam Trade Bank, also known in […]

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Car dealers need to prepare for change. More and more customers are opting to purchase their vehicles directly from the factory. Sooner or later, this will lead to changes in sales. Digitalization has long since taken hold of large parts of the commercial world. Consumers are increasingly saving themselves a trip to the shops by […]

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The real estate giant Adler Group has been rocked by the decision of its auditors not to issue an audit certificate for the annual balance sheet for 2021. The ensuing share price collapse saw the Group’s stock fall to a record low These are uncertain times for Adler Group’s shareholder and investors. The real estate […]

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The latest measure by the German legislature in response to the coronavirus pandemic has been to extend the special arrangements in place for short-time working allowance until June 30, 2022. This state subsidy – known as Kurzarbeitergeld in German – allows businesses experiencing economic difficulties to temporarily reduce their employees’ working hours in order to […]

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Notwithstanding the European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) time clock ruling, Germany’s Federal Labor Court – the Bundesarbeitsgericht (BAG) – has made it clear in a judgment from May 4, 2022 that it is still the employee’s responsibility to produce proof of the number of overtime hours worked (case ref.: 5 AZR 359/21). In its ruling […]

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Grounds for reducing commercial rent can also potentially come in the form of indirect repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic. That was the conclusion of the Oberlandesgericht (OLG) Frankfurt – the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt – in a judgment from February 18, 2022 (case ref.: 2 U 138/21). The decision follows a ruling of the […]

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If it says raw food on the outside, then there should actually be raw food on the inside. That was the verdict of the Landgericht (LG) Koblenz – the Regional Court of Koblenz – in a ruling from March 15, 2022 that saw the Court prohibit a food producer from advertising with misleading claims. Healthy […]

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