The court upheld the defendant’s position, and stated that the plaintiff’s practice amounted to a misleading practice in relation to the main characteristics of the product. It further noted that it is irrelevant whether the plaintiff publicised information about the delay of the event in the media, because it was primarily obliged not to publicise potentially misleading information at its points of commercial activities, i.e. at the website. Moreover, it was stated that an average consumer does not have to search for information in other sources, such as the media.
However, taking into account that (1) there were no complaints by the consumers, (2) the misleading actions did not last for a long time, (3) the plaintiff was cooperating with the defendant in good faith, (4) the plaintiff ensured repayment for the tickets, and (5) the plaintiff had violated the Lithuanian Law on Prohibition of Unfair Business-to-consumer Commercial Practices for the first time and unintentionally, the court decreased the fine imposed on the defendant to the minimum level, i.e. LTL 1.000 (about 286 EUR). The court additionally noted that there were no grounds for imposing a warning instead of the fine, because the violation was made via the internet website and, thus, was not minor.
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