In a recent decision, the Higher Regional Court of Hamburg has continued the long-standing case law of various courts on the term “clinic”. The relevant public assumes that “clinic” is used synonymously with a hospital department or a hospital. The essential characteristic is therefore that the self-designated clinic also has material and personnel resources for inpatient treatment and care. This also applies in the case of a “voice clinic.” It could not be inferred from the word element “Stimm-” that this could only be about treatments that would regularly avoid inpatient treatment. The term is therefore misleading pursuant to Sections 3, 5 (1) UWG (Higher Regional Court of Hamburg, decision of September 2, 2020, case no.: 3 U 205/19).
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