LG Hamburg: Adblock Plus permissible under competition law
The Adblock Plus browser plugin can be used to prevent websites from displaying advertisements. This deprives website operators of advertising revenue. Adblock Plus was also recently criticized because certain advertisements were approved as "non-intrusive".
In addition, advertising companies can apparently be included on a whitelist, whereby as a larger company - in addition to fulfilling other requirements - a sum of money must be paid for this. Nevertheless, the Hamburg Regional Court denied that Adblock Plus was an anti-competitive hindrance. The decisive factor in this decision was obviously the fact that Adblock Plus users can easily change the default settings, including the whitelist.
Date: 5. May 2015