Case law

  • Case Details
    • National ID: MAO:434/13
    • Member State: Finland
    • Common Name:link
    • Decision type: Court decision, first degree
    • Decision date: 20/11/2013
    • Court: Market Court
    • Subject:
    • Plaintiff: Odeal Oy
    • Defendant: SPL Group OSK
    • Keywords: comparative advertising, invoice, unfair commercial practices
  • Directive Articles
    Misleading and Comparative Advertising Directive, link
  • Headnote
    Marketing is inappropriate, when the expression ”more affordable” is used in the marketing and it indirectly refers to services of a competing company. Expression “better” is considered as a commercial praise, as a result of which the use thereof is not inappropriate.
  • Facts
    The plaintiff and the defendant provide invoicing services to private persons who provide various work performances to their clients. They are competing companies and they market services online. The defendant has used expressions “more affordable” and “better” in its marketing so that the said marketing has appeared in the search when googling “odeal”. According to the plaintiff, the defendant has inappropriately compared the services that are provided by the companies. The plaintiff claims the Market Court to prohibit to use those expressions on pain of a fine of 50.000 Euros. The defendant claims the demands to be dismissed.
  • Legal issue
    According to section 2 a of the Unfair Business Practices Act, the marketing is allowed if it objectively and verifiably compares the features of products. The provision applies also when referring indirectly to a product of a competing company. The trader may use comparative expressions in its marketing.

    As far as the expression “more affordable” is concerned, the Market Court states that the comparison is directed to other invoicing services in context in question, which makes the defendant liable for verifying its claims. The plaintiff has proved that almost a third of its prices are the same or lower compared to the defendant’s prices. The defendant has not been able to verify its claims. The claim concerning the expression “more affordable” is prohibited if it does not directly refer to a situation where a company has reduced prices of its own products.

    As far as the expression “better” is concerned, the Market Court states that it is not a question of a factual claim but a general expression which can be considered as a commercial praise.
  • Decision

    Is marketing inappropriate, when expressions ”more affordable” or ”better” are used in the marketing, if those can indirectly refer to services of a competing company?

    URL: http://markkinaoikeus.fi/fi/index/paatokset/markkinaoikeudellisetasiat/markkinaoikeudellisetasiat/1385712005208.html

    Full text: Full text

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  • Result
    The Market Court prohibits the defendant to continue or renew its marketing in which it cannot verifiably present its services to be more affordable compared to the plaintiff’s services on pain of a fine of 50,000 Euros. Otherwise the plaintiff’s claims are dismissed.