MUNICH and KARLSRUHE, Germany, October 27 /PRNewswire/ --
- Oskar Lafontaine, former head of Germany's SPD party and current head of the Left Party loses a 7-year long litigation battle against Sixt AG in Federal Court.
This Thursday in Karlsruhe, the Federal Court rejected in its last instance Oskar Lafontaine's suit for damages against Sixt AG for Euro 100,000 (claim #: I ZR 182/04). The decision also rescinds the judgement of the Hanseatisches Oberlandesgericht from November 9, 2004. Oskar Lafontaine is now responsible for the trial costs.
Among other aspects, the litigation focused on Mr. Lafontaine's individual rights. Shortly after Mr. Lafontaine retired from his job as the Minister of Finance in March 1999, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" and the "Welt" (popular daily newspapers in Germany) featured advertisements for Sixt. The ads showed representatives of the federal administration at the time with Gerhard Schröder (SPD) as the chancellor. One of the 16 portraits also featured Mr. Lafontaine. However, his photo was crossed out. The text of the advertisement read: "Sixt also leases cars to employees on probation."
As a result, Mr. Lafontaine sued the company. He did not claim that his individual rights were violated, but demanded monetary compensation for the commercial use of his photo. The regional court and the higher regional court awarded him at first Euro 100,000. The advertisement violated the individual right to one's own picture and therefore Sixt was indicted to pay the costs for a fictitious licence. The courts of lower instance modelled their decision after a compensation awarded to Boris Becker for the commercial use of his photo. Sixt appealed the decision. The Federal Court rescinded its former decisions and rejected Mr. Lafontaine's claim.
Erich Sixt is content with the basic decision of the Federal Court. He stated: "The court confirmed our opinion that politicians cannot be treated as show stars. I was personally invested in winning the litigation against Mr. Lafontaine who failed already in his role as Minister of Finance and continues to preach water, but drinks wine."
Erich Sixt underlines that he was ready to donate the amount of Euro 70,000 for fighting unemployment in Eastern Germany, but that Mr. Lafontaine rejected that proposition and requested a payment for the non-profit organization of his wife, which fights the circumcision of girls and women. Erich Sixt regrets that the unemployed people of former Eastern Germany will not receive the money.
Mr. Sixt's lawer, Dr. Wolfgang Weitnauer, was also satisfied with the Federal Court's decision. Dr. Weitnauer said: "The Federal Court confirmed our legal opinion that critical advertisement centering around political events is acceptable, and that the right to free speech prevails over the purely commercial aspects of the right of the individual."
The Federal Court will shortly publish its own press release with detailed reasoning for its decision.
About Sixt
The Sixt AG, headquartered in Pullach, Munich, is an international provider of high quality mobility services. The company that was founded in 1912 is represented worldwide with 3,500 service points, supported by partners and licensees.
The 100% subsidiary Sixt Leasing AG is the leading leasing enterprise (independent of manufacturers and banks) in Germany. The company offers attractive car leasing to private and corporate customers, comprehensive full service leasing, competent vehicle fleet management and individual fleet consulting.
Press contact:
Sixt AG
Harald Ehren
Director of corporate communication
Tel.: +49-89-7-44-44-4240
Fax: +49-89-7-44-44-8-4240
E-mail: harald.ehren@sixt.de
