The Internet mail-order company Amazon uses advertising links on partner sites to lure potential buyers to its products – but it does not have to be responsible for problematic content on these sites. The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe ruled on Thursday that the prerequisites for liability were not met here.
A mattress manufacturer had sued whose mattress appeared in a questionable ranking with links to Amazon. But he could only blame the site operator for this. The Amazon affiliate program has been around in Germany for around 20 years. Registered participants can set links to products offered by Amazon on their website. If a purchase is made, they get a commission. Depending on the product category and monthly turnover, this can be up to twelve percent. For example, the links labeled “Buy from Amazon” are called affiliate links. “Affiliate” is English and means partner. The suing company bett1.de is bothered by the fact that such links can also be found in fake test reports and dubious product tips. After the hearing in November, company founder Adam Szpyt said that you couldn’t take the sales with you and not worry about whether the customer came from fraudulent sites.