Lastminute.com hit by German lawsuit on eve of IPO

Lastminute.com's German subsidiary has been hit with a competition lawsuit just days before the company floats on the London Stock Exchange.

German travel company, L'Tur Tourismus, announced on 6 March that it had filed suit against Last Minute Network Germany - Lastminute.com's German outfit - in a court in Hamburg.

According to a statement in Lastminute.com's revised company prospectus, the suit centres on the use of the name "lastminute", which L'Tur alleges is anti-competitive, misleading and in violation of German unfair trade practice law.

Philipp Montgelas, Lastminute.com's managing director in Germany, said his company had learned about the suit through the media, and had not even received official court documents yet.

"We shouldn't have competition problem here," he said. "They are fighting about the use of the phrase 'last minute'. In Germany, the name is very well-known, and focusses only on travel at the last minute, not for last minute needs in every case, like events or presents."

He said the company's expansive use of the term makes their offering unique.

Montgelas also noted that "last minute" travel in Germany refers only to travel that commences within 14 days of purchase, a far more strict definition of last minute than that used in the UK.

Mike Pullen, ecommerce lawyer with Dibb Lupton Alsop, said German competition law is different from that in much of the rest of Europe, and that the laws need to change if ecommerce is to take off there.

"German fair competition law is a purely protectionist measure designed to shield small and medium-sized businesses from foreign competition," he said. "When local offline traders start getting hammered, they instruct lawyers. It's just competitors who can't compete moaning about it."

L'Tur Tourismus was not available for comment at the time of writing.