OLG Frankfurt corrects LG Frankfurt in influencer case law

In April, the district court of Frankfurt am Main had rejected the issuing of an injunction against an Instagram influencer because there would be no business activities in representing aquariums to about 5000 followers. In my article on this, I had already doubted that the decision would not be corrected at the Higher Regional Court.

This is how it has happened, because the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main certainly saw in the representations business acts. The reason for this is that the influencer has business relations with the company whose products he presents on Instagram and that he linked the respective products to the Instagram accounts of the manufacturers.

Business act is in accordance with Section 2 para. 1 Point 1 UWG, inter alia, any conduct of a person in favour of his own or a third party prior to a transaction which is objectively linked to the promotion of the sale of goods. This includes the appearance of the dispute, which is advertising intended to promote the sale of the aquariums and aquarium accessories presented there. […]

In addition, Section 5a para. 6 UWG presupposes that the commercial act is capable of inducing the consumer to take a commercial decision which he would not otherwise have taken. A business decision is not just to call a sales protvalley that is equivalent to entering a store. It is sufficient to open a website that makes it possible to study a particular product in more detail.

Author: Marian Härtel

Marian Härtel ist Rechtsanwalt und Fachanwalt für IT-Recht mit einer über 25-jährigen Erfahrung als Unternehmer und Berater in den Bereichen Games, E-Sport, Blockchain, SaaS und Künstliche Intelligenz. Seine Beratungsschwerpunkte umfassen neben dem IT-Recht insbesondere das Urheberrecht, Medienrecht sowie Wettbewerbsrecht. Er betreut schwerpunktmäßig Start-ups, Agenturen und Influencer, die er in strategischen Fragen, komplexen Vertragsangelegenheiten sowie bei Investitionsprojekten begleitet. Dabei zeichnet sich seine Beratung durch einen interdisziplinären Ansatz aus, der juristische Expertise und langjährige unternehmerische Erfahrung miteinander verbindet. Ziel seiner Tätigkeit ist stets, Mandanten praxisorientierte Lösungen anzubieten und rechtlich fundierte Unterstützung bei der Umsetzung innovativer Geschäftsmodelle zu gewährleisten.