list of contributors - GALA

unsolicited electronic mail in the Danish Marketing Practices Act.
Debitel argued that it first, did not consider text messages as electronic mail
and secondly, launched the campaign in order to “play some tricks”.
The Danish Maritime and Commercial Court had a clear opinion of what
electronic mail is. It found all kinds of messages sent via electronic devices,
as electronic mail. This included e-mails, video messages, SMS, MMS, etc.
Further, the Court did not consider the messages and e-mails just to be the
playing of some tricks. It concluded that Debitel had violated the prohibition
of unsolicited electronic mail, and fined Debitel apr. 28,000 Euro.
Comments: This is the first big case on spamming in Denmark resulting in a recordbreaking
fine. It is clear that the text messages also amount to electronic mail,
and it was only because Debitel did not give it any serious thoughts that they
did not figure that out. Debitel has appealed the decision to the Supreme
Court.
4. Title E-wire marketing through artists
Topic: Marketing measures in books and pop-songs prohibited
When: November 2004
The Case: The Danish IT-company E-wire publicly proclaimed that they had offered
authors and musicians financial support if they incorporate E-wire in their
next release. E-wire provides an electronic “wallet” that can be used for
purchases on the Internet. E-wire thought that it would be a different and
funny way to promote the company.
The Consumer Ombudsman had the opinion that such marketing measures
would be contrary to the Danish Marketing Practices Act’s provision on fair
trading practice. In addition, he considered E-wires marketing measures
contrary to the International Chamber of Commerce’s Code on Advertising
Practice Art. 12. This requires advertisements to be clearly distinguishable as
such, and according to the Ombudsman, E-wire’s marketing measures were
undercover advertising (or “product placement”), and also misleading and
improper advertising.
After the comments from the Consumer Ombudsman, E-wire withdrew the
offer to the artists.
Comments: It was not surprising that the Consumer Ombudsman did not like the idea
from E-wire, since the Danish practice on “product placement” is fairly strict.
Additionally one of the authors found it a bit difficult to incorporate E-wire
into his next novel, since it takes place in the Middle Ages (!).