Under a ruling handed down by the Munich I District Court, Stiftung Warentest remains barred from claiming that the list of ingredients of Ritter SPORT’s Whole Hazelnuts chocolate is misleading and inaccurate with regard to the use of natural flavouring. Nor may it claim that the nut chocolate was not fit for sale. The court threw out the opposition filed by consumer protection organisation Stiftung Warentest against a previous injunction obtained by Ritter SPORT in the matter. It held that, despite the broad discretion its enjoys in making its assessments, Stiftung Warentest’s statements were not justified based on the facts.
In a test report published in late November 2013, Stiftung Warentest had found Ritter SPORT’s Whole Hazelnuts chocolate to be “deficient” on account of the allegedly misleading designation “natural flavouring” in the list of ingredients. Stiftung Warentest claimed the flavouring agent piperonal was misdeclared. In the list of ingredients of Ritter SPORT’s Whole Hazelnuts chocolate, it was allegedly inaccurately described as natural flavouring, despite - according to Stiftung Warentest - having been chemically synthesised. Ritter SPORT rejected this claim, arguing that only naturally derived piperonal was used.
Gleiss Lutz then obtained an injunction from the Munich I District Court on 28 November 2013, which was confirmed by the court today.
Ritter Sport was represented by Dr. Andreas Wehlau (partner) and Dr. Björn Kalbfus (both IP, Munich). Gleiss Lutz regularly acts for Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co. KG, e.g. representing the family-owned business in trademark and unfair competition litigation regarding its famous “Ritter Sport” brand against various competitors.
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