Case law

  • Case Details
    • National ID: President of the Commercial Court in Brussels, 8 June 2009
    • Member State: Belgium
    • Common Name:link
    • Decision type: Court decision, first degree
    • Decision date: 08/06/2009
    • Court: President of the Commercial Court in Brussels
    • Subject:
    • Plaintiff: Patrick Froment Immobilier SPRL
    • Defendant: Renaissance Properties SPRL
    • Keywords: average consumer, competition, immovable property, unfair competition
  • Directive Articles
    Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, Chapter 2, Section 1, Article 6, 1.
  • Headnote
    The mentioning of a successful transaction on the trader's website, from which it is not clear that it was not the trader but a competitor of the trader who has concluded the transaction, constitutes a misleading commercial practice.
  • Facts
    It was established that the defendant, a real estate broker, placed pictures of houses that were sold by competing real estate brokers (such as the plaintiff) on its website with the mentioning "sold".

    According to the plaintiff, such a commercial practice is in breach of the prohibition on misleading commercial practices as it induces a consumer to believe that it is the defendant who has sold the property, hence falsely creating publicity for its own activities.

     
  • Legal issue
    The court agreed with the plaintiff by first stating that the use of pictures with the slogan "sold" on the defendant's website, constitutes a positive publicity for the defendant. Hence, such use is beneficial for the trader using the picture.

    Further, the court stated, using such pictures is not a common practice in the sector of real estate brokerage and thus constitutes a misleading commercial practice towards consumers, as they will be induced to believe that it is the defendant who has sold the property.

     
  • Decision

    Does the mentioning of a successful transaction on the trader's website, from which it is not clear that it was not the trader but a competitor of the trader who has concluded the transaction, constitute a misleading commercial practice?

    Full text: Full text

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  • Result
    The court ruled against the defendant.