Incorporation of an Online Contract’s Automatic Renewal Clause

104 C 427/11Court of First InstanceJan 16, 2012Civil lawDismissed

Extracted by Omnilex

Omnilex summary

The plaintiff’s claim arose from an online real-estate contract containing an automatic renewal clause. The Kerpen District Court held that such a clause must be displayed so that the customer cannot complete the booking without unequivocally being required to take notice of it. Because the clause was not included in the agreed general terms and the booking could be completed without noticing it, the clause was not effectively incorporated. The court dismissed the claim and ordered the plaintiff to bear the litigation costs. The judgment is provisionally enforceable.

Omnilex headnote

An automatic contractual renewal clause in an online booking process must be graphically presented so that the customer is unequivocally required to take notice of it. If the customer can complete the booking without noticing the clause, it is not effectively incorporated where the clause is not contained in the agreed general terms and conditions and its incorporation is instead said to follow from the design of the website.

Full text

Amtsgericht Kerpen — 104 C 427/11 — Urteil

Entscheidungsdatum: 2012-01-16

Aktenzeichen: 104 C 427/11

ECLI: ECLI:DE:AGBM3:2012:0116.104C427.11.00

Dokumenttyp: Urteil

Spruchkörper: Abteilung 104

Leitsätze

Die Vereinbarung einer automatischen Vertragsverlängerung (hier: ein Internet-Immobilienvertrag betreffend) ist grafisch so anzuordnen, dass sie vom Internetkunden im Buchungsvorgang zweifelsfrei zur Kenntnis genommen werden muss.

Falls der Hinweis auf die vom Betreiber gewünschte Regelung so angebracht ist, dass der Kunde den Buchungsvorgang auch ohne eine Zurkenntnisnahme der Regelung abschließen kann, fehlt es an einer wirksamen Einbeziehung. Dies gilt jedenfalls dann, wenn die Vertragsverlängerung nicht in den -vereinbarten- allgemeinen Geschäftsbedingungen enthalten ist und sich die Kenntnis der Klausel aus der Gestaltung des Internetauftritts ergeben soll.

Tenor

Die Klage wird abgewiesen.

Die Kosten des Rechtsstreits werden der Klägerin auferlegt.

Das Urteil ist vorläufig vollstreckbar.

(Gemäß § 495a Abs. 2 S. 1 ZPO ohne Tatbestand.)

Keywords

online contractsautomatic renewalcontract incorporationgeneral terms and conditionswebsite design

Key legal questions extracted by Omnilex

Whether the automatic renewal clause in the online real-estate contract was effectively incorporated into the contract.

An automatic renewal clause is not effectively incorporated if the online booking process allows the customer to complete the transaction without having to take notice of it, where the clause is not included in the agreed general terms and conditions.

The clause must be presented so that the customer is unequivocally required to take notice of it during booking. A clause positioned so that the booking can be completed without noticing it is not effectively incorporated.

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