Börse Express – FW-Langthaler calls for a test case by WKO against ‘GDPR warnings’

Lower Austria lawyers ask hundreds of entrepreneurs to make settlement payments

VIENNA (OTS) – These days, a lawyer from Groß Enzersdorf is asking hundreds of entrepreneurs to make settlement payments of €190. According to the claim, they used free Google fonts on their homepage, which redirected visitors’ IP addresses to a Google server so that those fonts could also be displayed on visitors’ devices. The customer who made it her business to search for these Google fonts on the company’s websites sees her as an infringement of her rights and is now claiming compensation for the moral affront she suffered.

“This is a business model that only makes quick money that you want to squeeze out of entrepreneurs via lawyers,” says the regional head of liberal economics in Lower Austria, deputy chair of the Federal Board of Directors. Reinhard Langthaler is angry. Many companies will not even know about this circumstance on their sites, since they were created by homepage experts. Companies are already facing enough problems with anti-coronavirus measures, a shortage of skilled workers, choppy supply chains and sky-high energy prices from having to worry about thefts.

It is good that the Chamber of Commerce knows the procedure and has already indicated that “model trials cannot be ruled out”. Langthaler is now calling on the WKO to carry out its mission as a professional representative and to fight such a trial case and, if necessary, file a class action lawsuit against the attorney and his client. Each affected company is currently on its own and has to fight for itself. “Things will look different with the combined strength of the Austrian Chambers of Economics. One should not succumb to such intrigues by a millimeter, but should create a precedent that does not give other wishers the idea of ​​trying something similar,” says Langthaler earnestly and now expects decisive action from the WKO.