Eisenführ Speiser has won a major victory for Meemken GmbH & Co. KG before the Regional Court of Cologne.

The client was sued by the market leader for Turkish halal meat products for injunctive relief, as the latter objected to the product presentation of certain salami products under unfair competition law aspects. Among other things, the plaintiff saw an imitation of the presentation used by it and at the same time asserted inadmissible comparative advertising.

The defendant, represented by Eisenführ Speiser, considered this to be unfounded, as the basic design idea of the product (landscape and animals) was not subject to special protection and could not be monopolised by way of supplementary protection of ancillary copyright under competition law. The Regional Court of Cologne ruled in favour of our client and dismissed the action as requested.

The judgement is of particular importance as the "successor" to the well-known Federal Supreme Court judgement "Knoblauchwürste" (judgement of 2 April 2009 - Case No. I ZR 144/06), because in the current proceedings the plaintiff had asserted further facts under competition law which went beyond the original proceedings.

The client Meemken Wurstwaren GmbH & Co. KG was represented by attorney-at-law Harald Förster. Appeal is pending.