---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 1999 09:08:45 -1000
From: Roberta Winjum <robertaw@HAWAII.EDU>
Subject: Gordon & Breach Case (fwd)

News about G&B in the European cases...

Forwarded from the ChemInf Listserv.

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The following information I took from an article in the "Neue Zuercher
Zeitung" of July 22nd (please excuse any "incorrect" English legal
terminology, as I am no lawyer):

Gordon & Breach in 1989 filed a lawsuit about "unlauterer Wettbewerb"
(unfair competition) at the Handelsgericht Zuerich (the local court
dealing
with company affairs) against the American Institute of Physics and the
American Physical Society, similar to the same case in other countries.
After several complaints and re-evaluations, Gordon & Breach was turned
down by this court for the third time in 1997. Their appeal at the
"Bundesgericht" (Swiss Supreme Court) was now also turned down in
"Urteil
4C.318/1997" of June 6th, 1999. The judges unanimously  decided that
comparisons of prices are acceptable, provided such a comparison is
neither
incorrect nor misleading. The Court stated that the purely quantitative
nature of the comparison was clearly recognizable by any reader, and it
clearly denied the argument by Gordon & Breach that the comparison were
unnecessarily harsh ("unn�tig verletzend") or comparing things
uncomparable.

My personal comment:
I am glad that the Swiss Court like others upheld the right for correct
comparisons - the last thing we need in these difficult time with
journals
and publishers is a "muzzle". I am wondering whether the legal costs
incurred by Gordon & Breach in the many long-term suits in several
countries will lead to further journal price increases ...

Engelbert Zass

ETH Zuerich
Informationszentrum Chemie (Chemie-Bibliothek)
Universitaetstr. 16
CH-8092 Zuerich

zass@chem.ethz.ch
http://www.infochem.ethz.ch
FAX: ++41 (1) 632 1072
Phone: ++41 (1) 632 2964