It is forbidden to advertise on ships as "the biggest dating agency in Germany"

The more single people use an agency, the greater the probability of finding the right person. After this simple consideration, the Parship operators should have chosen their advertising slogan. However, the Higher Regional Court of Munich does not have sufficient evidence to badert that it is "the biggest dating service in Germany". The applicant, competitor Lovescout24, is satisfied.

Annual turnover of dating sites on the net: 211 million euros

Both competitors are among the most successful providers in the German online dating market. And it's growing. Every month, more than 8 million people visit German Internet portals. In total, operators have about 135 million registered profiles. To attract interested parties on their own site, they rely on advertising campaigns with catchy slogans. However, Lovescout24, a personal ad provider, has successfully sued Parship competitor. He is no longer allowed to call himself "the biggest dating agency in Germany".

Lovescout24 and Parship with more than ten million users

The Higher Regional Court of Munich (Az .: 6 U 454/18) confirms in its decision a judgment of first instance. The base was the annual study "The German market of online dating". Thus, Lovescout24 and Parship have both registered more than 10 million members during the 2017/18 survey period. However, the Parship representatives sent a higher number of so-called premium members to court. Unlike free accounts, premium subscriptions are paid. At least 660, – Euro pay each year Parship customers, including the creation of a personality profile and other filtering options in the search for contacts.

Court: number of participants is more important than membership

Member details and paid service profiles, however, initially had no role for interested clients, the court said. It can also be badumed that consumers make no distinction between dating sites, dating portals and partner portals. In plain language: Whether it's Parship or Lovescout24, Flirthungrige is less about the subtleties of members than the number of like-minded people on the web pages. In this context, the judgment considers as "inappropriate and therefore inadmissible" the words "the largest dating agency in Germany".

conclusion

Who advertises with superlatives, must provide evidence in case of doubt. Parship was not successful in this case. According to the court, the willingness to pay of its members plays no role in selecting an exchange of contacts. However, given the number of otherwise comparable users, Parship should no longer be the largest provider in the market.

display