OLG Hamburg: less means less than less

Advertising statements and the UWG are often not really close friends and the jurisprudence to misleading representation or statements is extremely extensive.

The Higher Regional Court of Hamburg has now considered the advertising statement “Less ingesis” of a drug to be misleading if the manufacturer makes it clear by means of an asterisk notice that this means that he only has to use the drug once a day.

Rarely in such cases does one read court that they speak of a “three lie” of the advertiser. In any case, the board was of the opinion.

The short and eye-catchingly emphasized statement “TAKE LESS” already makes a clear statement at first glance, namely a statement about the quantity, not the frequency of taking the advertised medicinal product.

Not even the almanac of the German language convinced the court:

[…]submitted expressions from the DUDEN, which merely show that the meaning of the words “wenig” or “weniger” depends on the context in which they are used.

It found the arguments of the applicant for the interim injunction more convincing according to which

[…] “less era” is usually used to indicate a lower frequency.

So be careful when formulating advertising slogans!