The Regional Court of Düsseldorf has ordered a company from Ratingen to refrain from advertising beverage cans with the slogan "Die Dose ist grün" (The can is green) in business transactions. In doing so, it upheld a complaint filed by Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V. (German Environmental Aid).
The statement "The can is green" is misleading according to the Board. The average consumer understands the term "green" in the slogan in environmental terms. According to his understanding, the cans printed with the slogan have particularly advantageous ecological properties. However, such an understanding was incorrect because neither beverage cans in general nor the defendant's iron cans were ecologically particularly advantageous - even in comparison with other packaging.
The board therefore considered this slogan to be a violation of the objectives of fair competition, which places strict requirements on the accuracy and truth of advertising. This applied in particular to statements that advertised the environmental properties of a product, because in recent decades consumers had become more environmentally aware and often preferred goods whose particular environmental compatibility was emphasised.
The defendant can appeal against the judgement at the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court.
(Düsseldorf Regional Court, judgement of 25 April 2013, file number 37 O 90/12)
Source: Press release of the Düsseldorf Regional Court
Goldberg Attorneys at Law 2013
Attorney at Law Michael Ullrich, LL.M. (Information Law)
Specialist lawyer for information technology law
E-mail: info@goldberg.de
