EUPillar OLG Stuttgart, 10.12.2009

Summary

The plaintiff brought an action for an injunction because of an alleged violation of rules on competition by using a certain advertisement for pharmaceuticals. The court had to consider the international jurisdiction of German courts. It stated that the German courts had the international jurisdiction pursuant to Art. 5 no. 3 Brussels I when the plaintiff’s website was aligned towards Germany. The purpose of Art 5 No. 3 Brussels I is to establish a place of jurisdiction where the taking of evidence and objective clarification can be performed in the most appropriate way. The CJEU stated in eDate Advertising (CJEU, 25/10/2011 – eDate Advertising ./. X, 2011, C-509/09) that in case of an infringement of personality rights via the internet the person who considers his rights having been infringed can bring an action in respect of all the damage caused either before the court where the publisher is established or before the courts where the centre of his interests is based. The person can also bring an action before the courts where the content has been accessible but only in respect of the damage caused in this country. In the present case there was no alleged infringement of personality rights but an alleged infringement of the rules on competition on the market. It is not clear if the guidelines stated in eDate can be transferred to the present case. The court could have made a preliminary request in order to obtain the correct interpretation in the case of the infringement of rules on the competition of the market