German courts back Adblock plus against publishers

Stefan Mileschin · 1st April 2016, 12:02

Courts around Germany are starting to reject publishers’ demands and are finding in favour of Adblock.

A German regional court has ruled that it is perfectly legal to use AdBlock plus because there is no contract between the reader and the publisher.

This suit, brought by the company behind the leading German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, is the fifth such case to be decided in favour of the German software makers.

A Munich court also ruled that the “Acceptable Ads initiative,” a scheme that requires larger companies to pay for their ads to be whitelisted by Adblock Plus, is acceptable under German law.

Writing in his bog, Adblock Plus’s Ben Williams said that without a contract between publishers and visitors to view all the ads a publisher serves there users have the right to block those or any ads.

“Additionally, the judge ruled that by offering publishers a way to serve ads that ad-blocking users will accept, the Acceptable Ad initiative provides them an avenue to monetise their content, and therefore is favourable, not disadvantageous, to them.”

http://www.techeye.net/internet/germ...nst-publishers

1st April 2016, 12:02	#1
Stefan Mileschin [M] Reviewer Join Date: May 2010 Location: Romania Posts: 148,462	German courts back Adblock plus against publishers Courts around Germany are starting to reject publishers’ demands and are finding in favour of Adblock. A German regional court has ruled that it is perfectly legal to use AdBlock plus because there is no contract between the reader and the publisher. This suit, brought by the company behind the leading German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, is the fifth such case to be decided in favour of the German software makers. A Munich court also ruled that the “Acceptable Ads initiative,” a scheme that requires larger companies to pay for their ads to be whitelisted by Adblock Plus, is acceptable under German law. Writing in his bog, Adblock Plus’s Ben Williams said that without a contract between publishers and visitors to view all the ads a publisher serves there users have the right to block those or any ads. “Additionally, the judge ruled that by offering publishers a way to serve ads that ad-blocking users will accept, the Acceptable Ad initiative provides them an avenue to monetise their content, and therefore is favourable, not disadvantageous, to them.” http://www.techeye.net/internet/germ...nst-publishers

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