German Federal Court of Justice, decision dated October 9, 2013, case no. I ZR 24/12
Many entrepreneurs offer vouchers for specific "events" on their website like a hot balloon ride in the particular case. Even though the customer receives certain information about the offer, the event and the price, only after the voucher deal has been sealed the customer will receive the full data about the identity and address of the event partner who will conduct the event as offered.
The German Agency to Combat Unfair Competition (Wettbewerbszentrale) regarded this business behavior as a violation of competition law since the customer would not be in a position to make an informed commercial decision unless he knew about the name and address of the event partner.
The German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) rejected this argument. In the Court's opinion there is no obligateion to disclose details on the event partner before the contract is entered into. The contracting party for the customer will be solely the website operator for whom the customer will need to have all the information, but not the event partner. Thus the couponing practice is in line with competition law
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