The organizer of Euromold has won an early court battle against its former partners, which are planning a competing event later this year.
A German court backed Euromold organizer Demat GmbH in a preliminary injunction the company filed against Messe Frankfurt, which is launching Formnext in November.
The Regional Court in Frankfurt rejected objections from Messe Frankfurt GmbH and two of its subsidiaries against a preliminary injunction that stops Messe Frankfurt from making email transmissions to Euromold exhibitors in violation of data privacy laws.
Demat said in a press statement: “The preliminary injunction is just one of several legal steps which Demat GmbH, host of the Euromold exhibition, is initiating against its former business partner Messe Frankfurt. Due to the illegitimate conduct of Messe Frankfurt, Demat has in the meantime also submitted a claim for damages against the trade fair.”
Messe Frankfurt said in a statement sent to Plastics News Europe: “The new Formnext event is not put at risk by the proceedings outlined by Demat and will take place in Frankfurt between 17 and 20 November.”
Euromold 2015 is taking place Sept. 22-25 at Messe Düsseldorf, the first time the fair has been held outside Frankfurt in its 21-year history.
"We are very pleased that the court again found in favor of our client,” said Christian Kusulis, a lawyer at Graf von Westphalen which is representing Demat in the legal dispute. “In order to establish a competing exhibition under the name Formnext, Messe Frankfurt made use of illegitimate methods and aggressively attacked Euromold. For more than 20 years, Demat GmbH has been hosting the Euromold exhibition at the Messe Frankfurt and established itself as the largest exhibition of this kind on a global scale. With Messe Frankfurt's deliberate attacks, Euromold finds itself heavily harmed.”
According to Demat's press statement, Messe Frankfurt “started to strategically harm Demat GmbH” during the Euromold 2014 fair in November by “sending promotional mails to Euromold exhibitors for their own competing exhibition Formnext, after having usurped their addresses from their client Demat; personally approaching Euromold exhibitors at their booths and making acquisitions for Formnext; placing dozens of flyers in the Euromold exhibition rooms overnight and promoting their own competition exhibition; making acquisitions during the final press conference of the Euromold; setting up numerous posters for Formnext at all Euromold exhibition entrances and exits throughout the ongoing exhibition.”
Demat also claimed: “Messe Frankfurt approached numerous Euromold exhibitors months before the Euromold 2014 took place concerning a study on the execution of their first own competing exhibition.”
In response to Demat's statement, Messe Frankfurt said: "We very much regret the extent to which the dispute between Demat and Messe Frankfurt has become public.
“After Demat largely failed to meet its contractual obligations in the past year, Messe Frankfurt had no choice but to terminate extraordinarily the existing framework agreement with Demat. Furthermore, Messe Frankfurt was forced to initiate a number of legal proceedings in order to claim substantial outstanding receivables vis-à-vis Demat.
“These proceedings are still ongoing.”