Law on competition

What is it about?

Law on competition, contrary to cartel law, is advertising law and aims at regulating the manner of a single advertising measure from the marketing mix, independent of the medium applied and the target group it is directed to. Thus, from the legal point of view, any letter from a company to a customer is an „advertisement“.

You can proceed against a behaviour adverse to the law on competition by means of an admonishment and a summons demanding a cease-and-desist letter. This has not, however, been regulated by law. You can find a sample admonishment here. The party admonished legitimately usually has to reimburse all legal costs endured by the admonishing competitor, which amount to the minimum of € 500 in the event of a relatively simple, innocuous infringement and can easily skyrocket. Therefore, you should have your marketing measure checked before applying it.

If your competitor refuses to issue a cease-and-desist letter satisfying as far as its content is concerned, you can take the matter to court. After the (usually short) period stated in the admonishment has expired, interim injunction proceedings can be carried out. The whole procedure consists of two summary proceedings and proceedings on the merits of the case.

How can we help you?

We offer you assistance in the following matters:

• Verifying your advertising measures (traditional and new media)
• Checking external corporate communication
• Furnishing legal opinions
• Developing strategies in compliance with the law on competition
• Enforcing claims in respect of the law on competition
• Defence against alleged claims of your competitors.