Case law

  • Case Details
    • National ID: H.D. 30. april 2015 i sag 267/2013 (1. afd.)
    • Member State: Denmark
    • Common Name:link
    • Decision type: Supreme court decision
    • Decision date: 09/01/2013
    • Court: Supreme Court
    • Subject:
    • Plaintiff: ALT for damerne A/S
    • Defendant: Sparta Atletik og Motion
    • Keywords: advertisement, comparative advertising, misleading advertising, public statement
  • Directive Articles
    Misleading and Comparative Advertising Directive, Article 2, (a) Misleading and Comparative Advertising Directive, Article 2, (b) Misleading and Comparative Advertising Directive, Article 2, (c) Misleading and Comparative Advertising Directive, Article 4 Misleading and Comparative Advertising Directive, Article 4, (d)
  • Headnote
    (1) A press release can be considered advertising.

    (2) Using phrasings, such as "stealing", "distasteful battle", "extremely disloyally steal the goodwill", "obvious violation of the Marketing Practices Act", "severely disloyally and aggressively attempt to steal the brand [the defendant] as the organizer had developed" and "distasteful manner" when referring to a former business partner in a press release, is a violation of Section 5(2)(5) (now Section 21(2)5)) the Marketing Practices Act.
  • Facts
    The defendant, an athletics club, and the plaintiff, a women's magazine, had jointly arranged a yearly women's race for a number of consecutive years. Each year, the parties entered into a new agreement but they failed to reach an agreement in 2009. After the negotiations collapsed, the defendant issued a press release in which it used expressions such as "stealing", "distasteful battle", "extremely disloyally steal the goodwill", "obvious violation of the Marketing Practices Act", "severely disloyally and aggressively attempt to steal the brand [the defendant] as the organizer had developed" and "distasteful manner".


  • Legal issue
    The court found that the use of expressions "stealing", "distasteful battle", "extremely disloyally steal the goodwill", "obvious violation of the Marketing Practices Act", "severely disloyally and aggressively attempt to steal the brand [the defendant] as the organizer had developed" and "distasteful manner" in the press release constituted a violation of the ban against misleading and aggressive marketing and marketing that could unduly influence consumers or traders, a violation of good marketing practices as well as a violation of Section 5(2)(5) (now Section 21(2)5)) of the Marketing Practices Act, which implements art. 4(d) of Directive 2006/114/EC.
  • Decision

    (1) Can a press release be considered advertising?

    (2) Is using phrasings, such as "stealing", "distasteful battle", "extremely disloyally steal the goodwill", "obvious violation of the Marketing Practices Act", "severely disloyally and aggressively attempt to steal the brand [the defendant] as the organizer had developed" and "distasteful manner" when referring to a former business partner in a press release, a violation of Section 5(2)(5) (now Section 21(2)5)) the Marketing Practices Act?

    URL: http://domstol.fe1.tangora.com/media/-300016/files/41-2011.pdf

    Full text: Full text

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  • Result
    The court ruled in favor of the plaintiff.