Germany's Supreme Court court throws out case claiming Adblock Plus violates competition laws

[Matrix]

European publisher Axel Springer attempted to have adblocking banned

It's no secret that many internet users don't care for ads. While many will accept the occasional non-intrusive ad to help support their favorite websites, online advertisements have gotten quite a bit more sophisticated -- and arguably annoying -- over time.

Pop-ups, pop-unders and autoplaying videos are all common ad formats today. As such, it wasn't a surprise to see the Adblock Plus browser extension take off.

Similarly, it was no surprise to see online content publishers protect their business model by pushing back against adblocking extensions. Some websites have resorted to paywalls while others have turned to polite pop-ups asking users to turn off their adblockers.

One publisher, Europe's Axel Springer, turned to legal action. The publisher brought a case to Germany's Supreme Court with the hope that the court would ban the distribution of Adblock Plus, arguing that serving an extension which blocks online ads while allowing some companies to pay to be "whitelisted" violated Germany's competition laws.

Fortunately for Adblock Plus and its legions of fans, Reuters reports the court today threw out the case, effectively overturning a lower court's ruling that "operating a white list was tantamount to unfair competition."

"We are excited that Germany’s highest court upheld the right every internet citizen possesses to block unwanted advertising online," Adblock Plus said...

Adblock Plus was quick to celebrate their victory with a statement and a GIF. "We are excited that Germany’s highest court upheld the right every internet citizen possesses to block unwanted advertising online," Adblock Plus said after the court's decision.

Source

[LeeSmithG]

AdGuard blocks everything from A-Z including porno adds.

I adore females but I don't wanna see naked females every time I use the net.

It also speeds up my surfing.

Sometimes using auction sites is slow and painful without AdGuard.

I get annoyed and bored that when watching T.V. apart from downloaded programs every Ad-Break is six (6) minutes.

Shame we can't have AdGuard for bskyb.

[dcs18]

45 minutes ago, LeeSmithG said:

Shame we can't have AdGuard fpr bskyb.

Can you explain — why not?

[coromonadalix]

they have the right to put ads, we have rights to remove them  ???

[vitorio]

3 hours ago, DonyMach1 said:

"We are excited that Germany’s highest court upheld the right every internet citizen possesses to block unwanted advertising online," Adblock Plus said...

That's the right thing to do.

[LeeSmithG]

On 4/22/2018 at 6:34 AM, dcs18 said:

Can you explain — why not?

 

So when I watch one hour of t.v. I don't have to put up with eighteen (18) minutes of adverts.

[dcs18]

25 minutes ago, LeeSmithG said:

On 4/22/2018 at 11:04 AM, dcs18 said:

On 4/22/2018 at 10:17 AM, LeeSmithG said:

Shame we can't have AdGuard for bskyb.

Can you explain — why not?

So when I watch one hour of t.v. I don't have to put up with eighteen (18) minutes of adverts.

Exactly my point — which is why I'm wondering why you stated that you "can't have AdGuard for bskyb."

[DKT27]

On 4/22/2018 at 10:17 AM, LeeSmithG said:

I adore females but I don't wanna see naked females every time I use the net.

 

Man, I was surprised when I once had to disable my adblocker on one of the earliest working and most famous torrent site on the internet. That time I actually understood what adblockers are really for I think.