Comparative advertising

Comparative advertising means that in an advertisement the performance of one or more competitors is compared with the own offer. In Germany the comparative advertising is permitted since July 14, 2000 due to an EC Directive under certain specifications and regulated by the Act against Unfair Competition ( UWG). For example, the statements must be objectively verifiable and true. Moreover, it should ( comparative ) advertising not be misleading and not denigrate or disparage competitors. Before comparative advertising in Germany was allowed with defacing the competing product.

Legal Limits

The comparative advertising in Germany is regulated in § 6 UWG. Then is any advertising which explicitly or by implication identifies a competitor or goods or services offered by a competitor recognizable, comparatively. It represents an act of unfair competition under § 3 of the UWG and gives the competitor claims for injunctive relief and damages if they

Risks

The comparative advertising is a sensitive area of business law, in which it can easily lead to legal disputes. Really offensive therefore use only economically strong market participants to comparative advertising. Sensibly, this type of advertising is especially true when only a few large, but well-known competitors, especially in the consumer market to participate in market activities. In addition to the risk of legal disputes and their image is touched. So may decrease the sympathy of its own brand by a too aggressive advertising and hard attacks against competitors. In practice, many companies are exploring the legal limits or consciously go beyond, as their unfair advertising campaign promises measurable results to the lost lawsuit that are higher than the expected costs due to a lost process. Several examples of this provides the low-cost airlines Ryanair, which stated, among other comparative prices, which contained no additional cost.

Companies which have carried out comparative advertising campaigns

  • Pepsi vs. Coca -Cola, see also " cola war"
  • German Telekom vs. Tele2
  • Saturn vs. Media Markt (both trademarks and brands are the Media-Saturn - Holding)
  • Practitioner vs. Obi
  • Apple Vs. Microsoft and Intel
  • O2 vs. German Telekom and Vodafone
  • The Austrian mobile operator Telering vs. Competitors ( Telekom Austria, One, T -Mobile ... )
  • Amazon vs. Apple
  • Audi vs. Mercedes
  • Thalia vs. Amazon
  • Taz vs. Image (see The daily newspaper # The ratio of the Axel Springer Verlag)
Cause of action Coca-Cola Cola Wars Deutsche Telekom Obi (store) Orange Austria Amazon.com Mercedes-Benz
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