Liability of the platform operator for breach of labeling obligations
OLG Frankfurt, Decision from 21.12.2023, 6 U 154/22 –Liability of the platform operator for breach of labeling obligations.
Several sellers have offered a soy drink on the Amazon sales platform and illegally referred to it as "soy milk".
The Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt confirmed the first-instance judgment of the Regional Court of Frankfurt and stated that a platform operator has a duty of review. The prerequisite for liability under the UWG is the breach of this duty of review. The existence and scope of the duty to review depends on the individual case. There must not be a requirement that jeopardizes the business model, which is generally approved, or makes it disproportionately difficult. If the operator of a sales platform is notified of breaches of labeling regulations (here: labeling of a soy product as milk), there is an obligation to prevent future similar infringements beyond the specific offer.
- If the operator of a sales platform is notified of violations of labeling regulations (here: designation of a soy product as "milk*), there is an obligation to prevent future similar infringements beyond the specific offer.
- By labeling an offer as "... choice for rice milk", the provider of the sales platform does not appropriate the term if the public recognizes that only the search term entered by the user is reproduced.
The decision is interesting insofar as, in addition to the obligation to take action following notification of an infringement, an obligation to prevent similar infringements in the future is also assumed. This is to a reasonable extent, whereby the use of unlawful terms (in this case the word "milk" in the case of a soy drink) can probably be easily resolved with technical possibilities and is therefore reasonable. The decision should be applied to other sales platforms and, in our opinion, also to other frequently occurring infringements, such as inadmissible health claims.