Injunctive debtor must also examine links in groups on Facebook for infringement

When someone is ordered to cease and desist on the Internet, many often forget that all content must be removed, not just the actual post or website. This includes backups, unlinked website or even the Google cache.

A particularly interesting ruling was recently issued by the OLG Celle. This is because the latter ruled that a court injunction would also include searching Facebook groups for possible posted links to an original post on Facebook. Otherwise, there is a threat of administrative fine proceedings.

Often in a link in Facebook groups, through the preview, namely the actual e accusation that led to the injunction is included. Both the Regional Court of Stade and the Higher Regional Court of Celle confirmed that failure to remove from Facebook groups would result in an administrative fine. The existing links themselves would constitute a violation of the court’s injunction. As an active user of Facebook, it was incumbent upon the debtor in this case to actively search the groups he frequented for his posts, even those that had been made some time ago, and to delete them. If the number of posts and links written by the injunctive debtor is so large that he has lost track of his content (according to the submission in this case), this is to the detriment of the injunctive debtor.