On September 16 the Frankfurt District Court lifted the ban on the „Uber-Pop“ app for the time being. Although Uber’s activities are unlawful, the court found that the urgency in this case could not be proven.
At the end of August, the same District Court had granted the request for this injunction, banning the use of the Uber app in the whole of Germany. Applicant was Taxi Deutschland AG, a group of cooperating radio circuits which also operates a Germany-wide app with the same name. Trips for this app are handled only by regular drivers and licensed taxi companies.
At the end of August the District Court followed the applicant’s opinion that UberPOP was in effect illegal transportation of people, and demanded that the app would be banned. Uber appealed against the injunction, over which appeal the District Court had to decide at a hearing yesterday.
Once again the judges made clear that they have no doubt about the illegality of the UberPOP-app. Nevertheless, they lifted the ban because in their opinion there is no particular urgency. The application had been made in August, but Uber was known to be active in April already. That at least was the reasoning of the Uber-lawyers, which the judge followed in the end.
Taxi Deutschland announced it would appeal the decision before the Court of Appeal. Then the urgency is re-assessed, because Taxi Deutschland states that only in July it could be proven that trips had been made without complying with the relevant statutory provisions.
