Successful action by CMS in Adblock Plus case before Munich Higher Regional Court

Cologne – Munich Higher Regional Court has confirmed the legal admissibility of Adblock Plus in three judgments of 17 August 2017, thereby taking the same line as all six of the existing rulings by regional courts. Previously, Cologne Higher Regional Court had declared adblockers to be legal, but was the only court in Germany to regard Adblock Plus’ business model with its charge for whitelisting as unlawful. Munich Higher Regional Court has now accepted all aspects of the argumentation put forward by CMS. These rulings by the Munich court thus reject the claims under unfair competition, copyright and cartel law made by ProSieben, RTL and the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

Dr Hubertus Kolster, managing partner of CMS Hasche Sigle, commented: “Our team working on this case is particularly pleased with this pivotal milestone because it was preceded by a phase of painstaking strategic planning for the court action.”

“The case confirms that adblockers are a fact of life for the digital economy,” said Dr Pietro Graf Fringuelli, Strategy Lead Partner. In taking its decision, the Senate concurred with the legal opinion submitted by Prof. Udo Di Fabio, former presiding judge of the German Federal Constitutional Court, who considers that the use of an adblocker is covered by the right not to be exposed to unwanted information.

“This ruling by Munich Higher Regional Court strengthens the rights of companies to offer consumers products that enable them to take control of their digital privacy,” added Dr Heike Blank, Litigation Lead Partner. “The advertising industry now has the task of developing user-friendly advertising models.”

The judgments by Munich Higher Regional Court are testimony to the long experience of the interdisciplinary CMS litigation team headed by Fringuelli and Blank. As business models are disrupted, traditional companies in the media sector need to face up to the new challenges.

CMS Germany

Dr Pietro Graf Fringuelli, Strategy Lead Partner, TMC
Dr Heike Blank, Litigation Lead Partner, IP
Kai Neuhaus, Partner, Competition & EU
Antonia Witschel, Senior Associate, IP
Thorsten Hemme, Counsel
Dr Alexander Stief, Senior Associate
Dr Jan Patrick Ehinger, Associate
Dr Karin Schmidtmann, Senior Associate, all TMC

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