Made in Germany
Made in Germany is a merchandise mark indicating that a product has been manufactured in Germany.
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[edit] History
The label was originally introduced in Britain by the Merchandise Marks Act 1887[1], to mark foreign produce more obviously, as British society considered foreign produce to be inferior to domestic produce, and tried to get buyers to adhere to the concept of 'buying British'[citation needed].
In 1894, the German Reichstag's commission already reported that after suffering slight losses, German manufacturers soon found the label to be of good use since they could distinguish themselves better from the British manufacturers.[cite this quote] This led to more and more manufacturers voluntarily applying the label, and not even World War I, in which marks were mandatory in Britain in order to boycott the Central Powers countries' products,[citation needed], could dent the growing popularity of the mark.
The term Made in Germany was soon associated with product reliability, quality and even perfection[citation needed].
The term was used in a series of images supporting Germany during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which were distributed on Facebook.
[edit] Legal status
"Made in Germany" is not controlled by a central regulatory body. However, its status has been defined by several court rulings in Germany[citation needed]. In 1974, the Bundesgerichtshof made a ruling that Made in Germany does not enable people to properly distinguish between the two Germanys of the time, so Made in Western Germany and Made in GDR became popular. In 1995, the Oberlandesgericht Stuttgart ruled that the term Made in Germany is misleading according to Germany's Fair Trades Act when the largest part is not German raw materials or German craftsmanship.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Board of Trade: Merchandise Marks Standing Committee: Papers". The National Archives (United Kingdom) accessdate = 2011-08-23. http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details.mvc/Collection/?iAID=3252&cref=BT+215. "The Merchandise Marks Act 1887 required, for the first time, that the country of origin should be marked on any imported goods bearing the name or trade mark of a United Kingdom manufacturer. . . . Under the Act, the addition of the country of origin to imported goods of any series or description could be enforced by Order in Council."
- Borck, Hans-Günther (1993). Ein gemeinsames Erbe: "Made in Germany". Wettbewerb in Recht und Praxis. pp. 301–303.
- Wulf, Julia (1995). "Made in Germany": Wirtschaftliche Bedeutung und rechtliche Schutzmöglichkeiten. Frankfurt am Main; New York: Peter Lang Verlag. ISBN 3-631-47785-6.
