BERLIN, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The German Federal Supreme Court (BGH) has ruled against the Axel Springer media group by approving the use of online ad-blockers in a widely-publicized case on Thursday.
The court found that ad-blockers provided by the company Eyeo complied with regulations on unfair competition and did not constitute an illicit form of aggressive commerce. Ultimately, the decision whether or not to employ the ad-blockers rested with the users of internet pages.
Axel Springer had argued that the possibility for users to block advertisements on websites posed an existential threat to its business model. The media company warned that only a handful of journalistic platforms on the internet could rely on subscription payments, while the majority needed to rent out marketing space as a source of earnings.
During the course of court hearings, Eyeo's attorney rejected this line of argumentation, highlighting that the Axel Springer had recently achieved two-digit growth rates in online earnings despite the existence of ad-blockers.
The BGH justified its final verdict on the grounds of what it described as a careful weighing of individual interests of all parties involved. The "crucial" factor which had animated the judges to rule in favor of Eyeo was that the plaintiff was still "capable of defending itself against ad-blockers", by revoking the access of users who relied on the technology to Axel Springer websites.
Responding to the ruling on Thursday, Axel Springer, announced that it would proceed to file a constitutional complaint concerning a breach of the basic right to press freedom.
The Berlin-based company is one of Europe's largest publishing houses, recording total revenue of 3.6 billion euros (4.4 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017.