Discussion
Ask a question about 'Made in Germany' Start a new discussion about 'Made in Germany' Answer questions from other users |
Made in Germany is a merchandise mark indicating that a product has been manufactured in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
History
The label was originally introduced in
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
by the
Merchandise Marks Act 1887.
In 1894, the German
Reichstag'sThe Reichstag was the parliament of the North German Confederation , and of the German Reich ....
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. This led to more and more manufacturers voluntarily applying the label, and not even
World War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, in which marks were mandatory in Britain , could dent the growing popularity of the mark.
The term
Made in Germany was soon associated with product reliability, quality .
The term was used in a series of images supporting Germany during the 2010 World Cup, which were distributed on Facebook.
Legal status
"Made in Germany" is not controlled by a central regulatory body. However, . 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 GermanyWest Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
and
Made in GDR became popular.
In 1995, the
OberlandesgerichtThe Oberlandesgericht is one of the 'ordinary courts' in Germany...
StuttgartStuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
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.