Court bans discount campaign: Doc Morris misleads consumers

Customers with their own account at Doc Morris was only available when redeeming a prescription in the sender's app, with an extensive list of exclusions. Doc Morris sent the advertisement via email to an existing customer.

The North Rhine Chamber of Pharmacists (AKNR) warned the sender at the end of April 2025 for violating the prohibition of Rx bonuses according to Section 129 Paragraph 3 of the Social Code Book V (SGB V). Furthermore, the voucher constituted an unreasonable influence on the selection of Pharmacy within the meaning of Section 7 Paragraph 1 No. 1 of the German Medicines Advertising Act (HWG). At the beginning of the month, the Freiburg Regional Court had already ruled in favor of the Chamber in another legal dispute, and Doc Morris subsequently changed the voucher terms and conditions.

The court is already familiar with this cat-and-mouse game with the notoriously law-breaking shipper. Doc Morris feels safe across the Dutch border and has repeatedly failed to pay legally imposed fines. In this case, Doc Morris also left no stone unturned and unsuccessfully challenged the territorial jurisdiction of the Stuttgart Regional Court.

The Chamber had also criticized the email advertising as violating the transparency requirement under the Digital Services Act (DDG). It was impossible for consumers to determine which products could qualify for discount vouchers under the HWG because consumers were not familiar with the law.

The Stuttgart Regional Court specifically focused on this aspect: It is unfair to mislead consumers by withholding essential information in advertising. Consumers are not clear about which products they can redeem the vouchers for and which are exempt.

Specifically, Doc Morris had excluded the following from its advertising for voucher redemption: "Infant formula, price-fixed items such as books, and items for which discount vouchers are not granted under medicinal product advertising law." Because the latter was unclear, consumers could not assess the significance of the discount, the judges stated.

The court thus issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting Doc Morris from advertising a €25 voucher in exchange for a redeemed prescription. According to the ruling, the other alleged violations were no longer relevant. Doc Morris can still appeal the decision.

Anne Bongers-Gehlert of the authorized law firm Friedrich Graf von Westphalen & Partner welcomed the decision. With this ruling, the court consistently continued its action against DocMorris's discount campaigns. "After the Freiburg Regional Court prohibited DocMorris from granting discounts in connection with the redemption of prescriptions if the discount could also be used for the purchase of OTC medications, the Stuttgart Regional Court now confirms that DocMorris cannot simply evade this ruling with a maximally non-transparent reformulation of the redemption conditions," Bongers-Gehlert said. "It is not obvious to patients that the discount does not apply to a large portion of the products. The Stuttgart Regional Court prohibited this misleading advertising to protect patients."

The Freiburg Regional Court recently implemented a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in this case . The Luxembourg judges concluded that vouchers granted directly upon prescription redemption for subsequent orders of non-prescription products could be prohibited. They reasoned that these discounts could encourage customers to consume more non-prescription medications. Such promotions could be prohibited under national law.