Facebook fails in challenge to German counterpart

Jun 16, 2009, 16:02 GMT

   Cologne, Germany - Social networking website Facebook failed Tuesday in a court challenge to a Germany-only counterpart which the US company charged was a knockoff.

The suit accused StudiVZ of plagiarizing Facebook's main features including the 'Wall' where users write status updates and 'pokes,' which allow users to say a wordless hello.

But a district court in Cologne rejected the suit, saying the similarities were obvious, but there was no unfair competition in terms of German law.

Judges added that when StudiVZ, which has sub-sites for students, schoolchildren and the general public, began in 2005, Facebook was barely known in Germany and a German-language Facebook only arrived in March 2008.

A Facebook spokeswoman said the company would review its legal options after the ruling. Facebook has more than 200 million registered users worldwide, 2 million of them in Germany.

   StudiVZ, which now belongs to the Holtzbrinck publishing group, is the dominant social networking site in Germany. It says its three sections have 13 million registered users.

The most obvious difference is in colour: Facebook is blau, StudiVZ is red.