The courts have also once again been concerned with the ban on the sale of branded products on online platforms as part of a selective distribution system. The Frankfurt am Main Higher Regional Court recently made it clear again in its decision of December 22, 2015 (Az: 11 U 84/14 (Kart)) that, from its point of view, a brand manufacturer is entitled to allow its dealers to sell the products within the framework of a selective distribution system to ban on Amazon. The Frankfurt am Main Higher Regional Court argued that a brand manufacturer can control the quality of sales of its products through selective distribution and thus also determine the conditions for distribution. The Frankfurt Higher Regional Court is also following the guidelines for the Verticle GVO 2010/330, paragraph 54.
On the other hand, the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court was of the opinion that the ban on retailers from advertising the products on price comparison machines is inadmissible, as such a ban is not necessary to safeguard the brand image. However, an appeal can be lodged against this judgment, so there is still no legal certainty here, especially since other higher regional courts - albeit in different circumstances - considered such a ban to be inadmissible. It therefore remains to be seen whether the Federal Court of Justice, as the highest civil court, will have to deal with this question in the near future.
