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No promotion with free registration if only a chargeable access is possible

The Regional Court Cologne (in a ruling from August 19, 2014, reference number 33 O 245/13) sentenced that a service provider can no longer promote his website with a free registration if the main requested functionality is in reality subject to a charge.

In the present case a provider promoted his website: after a free registration it was possible to chat, talk and flirt. However with the free access it was only possible to create its own profile and to view other participants'' profiles. All interaction between other participants could be carried out only if a ten days subscription was purchased. If a participant, after the free registration, tried to come into contact with other participants, he was redirected to a page where it was possible to purchase a subscription.
In particular, the Regional Court Cologne found that this kind of promotion is misleading, because the main functionality of the site 'chat, flirt, talk' is only available when a subscription is purchased. By promoting the site with a free registration, the provider gave the impression that the main functionality was free of charge.