In its judgment of 8 May 2013, Case No. 13 O 70/12, the Regional Court of Wuppertal found that the term "bakery" is nowadays only used by a reasonable consumer to mean a shop where baked goods can be purchased.
The judgment was based on the following facts:
The defendant runs a small business under the names "Bakery ...", "Bakery-Café" and "Bakery ... Your Family Bakery".
The baked goods sold there are not produced in the bakery's own bakery, but are purchased from another bakery with its own bakery. The defendant informs about this. The defendant's company named "Bakery...", "Bakery-Café" and "Bakery ... Your Family Bakery" does not have its own bakery.
The plaintiff sued the defendant for injunctive relief. The plaintiff was of the opinion that the defendant's advertising was misleading pursuant to § 4 no. 11 UWG and pursuant to § 5 para. 1 sentence 2 nos. 1 and 3 UWG. The plaintiff claimed that the defendant created the misconception among its customers that it was registered in the register of craftsmen and that it practised the bakery trade itself and did not merely sell baked goods produced by others.
The defendant took the view that the term "bakery", unlike the term "baker", was not protected. Moreover, the place where the craft of a baker is practised is described as a "bakery" and not as a "bakery". The average consumer understood a "bakery" to mean only a point of sale for baked goods.
In its decision, the Regional Court agreed with the defendant's view. The Regional Court ruled that even if the term "bakery" used to be associated with a bakery, this association is no longer prevalent today. Independent bakeries with their own bakery were the exception today. Chains, which often call their pure sales branches "bakeries", are predominant. Furthermore, it is usually not decisive for a customer whether the baked goods sold by a company come directly from a bakery attached to the sales outlet. Rather, the customer nowadays simply imagines the term "bakery" to mean a shop where baked goods can be purchased.
The judgement is final.
The author of the article was involved in the trial as the defendant's legal representative.
Goldberg - Lawyers 2013
Michael Ullrich, LL.M. (Information Law)
Specialist lawyer for information technology law (IT law)
E-mail: info@goldberg.de
