The advertising strapline "Europe's largest online service" can no longer be used, following a ruling by the federal supreme court of Germany. T-Online International had been claiming that title throughout advertising campaigns in 1999 and 2000, but the court ruled last week that the boast is misleading.
Clarifying the rules, the court decided that although T-Online indeed has the most customers at 13.4 million, the definition of "largest" could also extend to the most-used service, which does not apply to the company.
The move will undoubtedly please AOL Deutschland which had initiated an injunction against the Deutsche Telekom-owned company.
Data sourced from: The Wall Street Journal Online; additional content by WARC staff
