The District Court of Düsseldorf has ordered a company from Ratingen to cease advertising beverage cans with the inscription “The can is green” in commercial transactions. This ruling granted a lawsuit filed by Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V.
According to the Chamber's view, the statement “The can is green” is misleading. The average consumer understands the term “green” in the slogan to be environmentally related. In their understanding, cans printed with this slogan possess particularly advantageous ecological properties. However, such an understanding is incorrect because neither beverage cans in general nor the defendant's tinplate cans are particularly ecologically advantageous – not even in comparison with other packaging.
The Chamber therefore considered this slogan to be a violation of the principles of fair competition, which imposes strict requirements on the accuracy and truthfulness of advertising. This applies particularly to statements that promote environmentally related characteristics of a product, as consumers have developed an increased environmental awareness in recent decades and frequently prefer goods whose specific environmental compatibility is highlighted.
The defendant may appeal the judgment to the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf.
(District Court of Düsseldorf, Judgment of April 25, 2013, File number 37 O 90/12)
Source: Press Release of the District Court of Düsseldorf
Goldberg Attorneys at Law 2013
Attorney Michael Ullrich, LL.M. (Information Law)
Specialist Attorney for Information Technology Law
Email: info@goldberg.de
