• Press
  • Offices
  • Contact
  • Legal notice
  • EN
    • DE
  • UPC
  • UPC
  • Firm
    • Main Focus
    • History
    • Guiding Principle
    • Awards and Rankings
  • Our Practice
    • Legal Areas
    • Industries
  • Our Team
  • News & Events
    • News
    • Events
    • UPC-Update
    • IP-Update
    • Brexit-Update
    • Publications
    • B&B Bulletin
  • Career
    • Working with us
  • Menu Menu
FIND EXPERTS
  • UPC
  • Firm
    • Main Focus
    • History
    • Guiding Principle
    • Awards and Rankings
  • Firm
  • News & Events
    • News
    • Events
    • UPC-Update
    • IP-Update
    • Brexit-Update
    • Publications
    • B&B Bulletin
  • FIND EXPERTS
  • Contact
  • Our Practice
    • Legal Areas
    • Industries
  • Our Practice
  • Our Team
  • Career
    • Working with us
  • Career
  • Offices
  • EN
    • DE

Facebook reads German – who else?

20. August 2020/in IP-Update

According to the Appeal Court Munich (ZUM-RD 2020, 364), it is possible to serve court documents onto Facebook in Ireland in German language. Can a general rule be derived from this decision which is based on the language skills present at Facebook in Ireland? This article tries to shed some light.

1. Starting point of the Appeal Court Munich

The decision centers around the question whether a preliminary injunction that issued in Germany, may be served onto Facebook in German, or Facebook could require a foreign language translation (English). According to the Senate, it was necessary to confirm that the language of the court decision is a language that the addressee understands. In case of legal persons, not only the skills of officers and authorized personnel were relevant, the Senate holds, but any available skills within the company that the management level can reasonably make use of.

That way, the Appeal Court Munich significantly extends options to serve court papers and documents in German language onto international players, specifically in the social media business.

In casu, the Appeal Court Munich relied on Facebook’s offering of the service in Germany in German, including all contractual provisions, terms and conditions, which, partly, made German laws binding and accepted venue in Germany (in consumer matters). Facebook was not successful to argue that no one in the legal department in Ireland read German in a way to handle (court) documents properly without external advice and consult, or to defend the company comprehensively in German.

While the Court shared the position that the addressee must be able to fully comprehend the relevance and scope of the claims raised abroad in order to make possible a sound defense, it is also stressed that a proper balancing of interests between the parties was required. A company the size of Facebook’s was, according to the Court, presumed to have personnel to comprehensively handle legal dispute in German language. When a company undertakes to fulfill a contract in a specific language, there was a rebuttable presumption that service of (court) documents can also take place in that language.

2. Case groups of document service abroad in German

The Munich decision shows that there is no definite answer to the question, when a translation is required and for which type of foreign company. The balancing of interests is a case-by-case analysis and the claimant arguing that no translation was required has to adduce proper evidence to this end.

The two conclusions drawn by the Appeal Court Munich go beyond what has been discussed in and accepted in previous cases. The Appeal Court Frankfurt/Main found back in 2015 (GRUR-RR 21015, 183) that not only legally trained personnel adept of the language in question must be present but also that their involvement in the specific matter was to be expected a natural step, when, e.g., they had been involved in this matter beforehand, including out of court.

Moreover, it was reasonable to conclude that such documents reached the managing level or the legal department. If there are appropriate language skills within these organizational groups, no translation of the German document was required.

According to the fresh decision handed down by the Appeal Court Munich, the latter is no longer a requirement. In fact, the addressee is obliged to make use of other internal sources. This prevents random or erratic results but stretches the limits of what language a company has to accept well beyond past limits.

Even though, as a general rule and for good reason, the Federal Supreme Court is reluctant to accept presumptions and prima-facie evidence regarding foreign language skills, the Munich decision offers some solid fact-based conclusion, and is seems reasonable to say that international addressees must not act inconsistently with previous or related conduct and business.  Finally, this result gives full effect to the purpose of the applicable statutory provisions, at least of those valid in the EU, namely, to reduce the need for translations to the extent possible.

/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/boehmert_logo.svg 0 0 Petra Hettenkofer /wp-content/uploads/2022/04/boehmert_logo.svg Petra Hettenkofer2020-08-20 00:00:002022-08-02 14:27:05Facebook reads German – who else?

Author

Dr. Rudolf Böckenholt, LL.M.

Contents

More articles

  • EPC: Amendments to rules for postal and electronic… 2. May 2023
  • Termination of the Swiss-German Agreement of 1892 - what… 23. May 2022
  • ECJ declares German court practice regarding the… 2. May 2022

Menu

  • Firm
  • Our Practice
  • Career
  • News & Events
  • FIND EXPERTS

Informations

  • Press
  • Contact
  • Legal notice
  • Data Protection
  • General Terms and Conditions
  • Contact

Legal Areas

  • Employee Inventions
  • Data Protection
  • Designs
  • Domains
  • Information Technology
  • Anti-Trust
  • Licensing
  • Trade Marks
  • Patent Valuation
  • Patents & Utility Models
  • Patent Litigation
  • Product Piracy
  • Copyright
  • Unfair Competition

© Copyright 2023– BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT

Scroll to top
Cookie settings Cookie settings

We need your consent before you can continue to use our website.


If you are under 16 and wish to give your consent to volunteer services, you must ask your parent or guardian for permission. We use cookies and other technologies on our website. Some of them are essential, while others provide you with more advanced information. For more information about how we use your data, please see our Data Protection Policy. There is no obligation to consent to the processing of your data in order to use this offer. You can revoke or adjust your selection at any time under Settings. Please note that due to individual settings, not all functions of the website may be available.

Cookie settings

Accept all cookies

Save settings

Accept only essential cookies

Individual data protection settings

Cookie details Privacy policy Legal notice

Cookie settings Cookie settings

If you are under 16 and wish to give your consent to volunteer services, you must ask your parent or guardian for permission. We use cookies and other technologies on our website. Some of them are essential, while others provide you with more advanced information. For more information about how we use your data, please see our Data Protection Policy. There is no obligation to consent to the processing of your data in order to use this offer. Please note that due to individual settings, not all functions of the website may be available. Here you can find an overview of all cookies used. You can give your consent to entire categories or view more information and thus select only certain cookies.

Accept all cookies Save settings Accept essential cookies only

Back

Cookie settings

Essential cookies enable basic functions and are necessary for the proper functioning of the website.

Display cookie information Hide cookie information

Name
Provider Borlabs GmbH, Legal notice
Purpose Stores the settings of the visitors selected in the Cookie Box of Borlabs Cookie.
Data protection policy https://borlabs.io/privacy/
Cookie name borlabs-cookie
Cookie duration 1 year

Privacy policy Legal notice