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Fully occupied marquee Ochsenbraterei (archive picture)
Photo: imago images / Ralph Peters
The Munich Oktoberfest takes place again.
No, not on the Theresienwiese.
It remains empty this year as well.
But in court.
Two Wiesn disputes have recently been negotiated there: On the one hand, it was about the name "Oktoberfest goes Dubai", on the other hand it was about the resale of tickets for the largest festival in the world: an Oktoberfest landlady had sued an online retailer Which, according to her, offered tent tickets well above price.
Usually, there are no separate costs for reservations at Oktoberfest, but those who reserve must purchase food vouchers.
At the Ochsenbraterei, for example, these amount to a maximum of around 400 euros for a table with ten people, according to the court.
The event agency, on the other hand, had sold the table reservations in the marquee between 1990 and 3299 euros.
On the other hand, the Ochsenbraterei filed a lawsuit with the District Court of Munich I - and has now won.
The agency not only has to stop the sale, but also pay the landlady compensation.
According to the judges, the event agency's offer is "misleading." Since the Ochsenbraterei prohibits the resale of table reservations to commercial resellers in its general terms and conditions. This is a "worthy of recognition" purpose, namely to "ensure a socially acceptable price structure and thus enable less affluent citizens to have as equal access to the Oktoberfest as possible." The agency was therefore unable to provide its customers with a legally valid right to a reservation. However, the judgment is not yet final.
The court was already dealing with another lawsuit relating to the Oktoberfest in June and ruled in favor of the city of Munich.
The ruling forbids two organizers to advertise with the phrase "Oktoberfest goes Dubai" and an associated image.
Here, too, the court recognized that consumers were being misled: contrary to the assumption suggested by the slogan, the Munich Oktoberfest was not relocated to Dubai.
jso / dpa