Taxi vs. Uber: Court quashes interim injunction!

The Regional Court (LG) Frankfurt am Main had initially prohibited the US start-up Uber by way of interim injunction from mediating passenger transport requests via its apps. The Regional Court has now set aside its decision due to lack of urgency.

The operator of the passenger transport app Uber offers the mediation of rides which are carried out by contractual partners who regularly do not have a licence for passenger transport. The LG Frankfurt a.M. prohibited this by interim injunction.(Beschluss 25.08.2014 – Az.: 2-03 O 329/14).

The LG Frankfurt a.M. set aside the interim injunction issued against the US start-up Uber.

Court decision

Taxi Deutschland Servicegesellschaft für Taxizentralen eG, which had brought the action against Uber in the present case, states in its press release that the Regional Court (LG) Frankfurt a.M. has set aside the interim injunction due to lack of urgency.

Apparently the Regional Court took the view that the application by Taxi Deutschland Servicegesellschaft had not been made within the required time limit. In that case, the applicant is left with only the ordinary main proceedings.

Taxi Deutschland makes clear, however, that this does not change anything with regard to the unlawfulness of the Uber offering. The mediation of taxi-like rides to private drivers without licences continues to be anti-competitive.

Conclusion

The interest association of taxi companies has already announced that it will have the decision of the LG Frankfurt a.M. reviewed in the context of an appeal procedure.

Whether Taxi Deutschland Servicegesellschaft will succeed in obtaining a prohibition already in the interim injunction proceedings is, following the Regional Court's decision, questionable. However, there is a good chance that the courts, in the context of main proceedings, will again see a breach of the Personenbeförderungsgesetz in the business model of the US start-up.