Advertisements with test results are very popular in retail. However, when advertising with test results, strict formal requirements must be observed in order to avoid anti-competitive misleading advertising. For example, it is necessary to provide a reference to the test.
A company had advertised its products on the Internet - with positive test results from an online portal.
No further information on the test was published. Neither the location of the test nor a link to the test report was displayed.
A competitor saw this as anti-competitive misleading and sued the advertising company.
Court decision on information obligations for advertising with test results
With Judgment of 24.03.2016 - Ref. 6 U 182/14 the OLG Frankfurt a.M. prohibited the advertising company from advertising with the test result in this form.
The Frankfurt judges classified the advertising as misleading. The consumer needed the missing information in order to make an informed business decision.
As early as 1991, the Federal Court of Justice stipulated that when advertising with test results, the advertiser must state the source of the publication of the test.
According to the OLG Frankfurt a.M., such a reference can also be replaced by a link to the test report when advertising on the Internet.
The advertising company has failed to provide a reference to the location of the test or to set a link, so that an infringement of competition must be affirmed.
Conclusion
It is important that Internet users are not deprived of essential information in advertising, including advertising with test results. It is therefore not surprising that the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt a.M. has assumed that advertising is misleading if the consumer is not provided with the location of the test or a link to it.
EN 
DE