Case number: 122
Article number: sales convention / 1 (1); 3 (1)
Thessaurs issue:
Country of decision: Germany
Year of decision: 1994
Type of decision: Judicial decision

Case 122: CISG 1 (1); 3 (1)
Germany: Oberlandesgericht K"ln; 19 U 282/93 26 August 1994
Published in German: Recht der Internationalen Wirtschaft (RIW) 1994, 970

The plaintiff, a Swiss market research institute, had elaborated and delivered a market analysis, which had been ordered by the defendant, a German company. The defendant refused to pay the price alleging that the report did not comply with the conditions agreed upon by the parties.

The court held that the CISG was not applicable, since the underlying contract was neither a contract for the sale of goods (article 1(1) CISG) nor a contract for the production of goods (article 3(1) CISG). Noting that the sale of goods is characterized by the transfer of property in an object, the court found that, although a report is fixed on a piece of paper, the main concern of the parties is not the handing over of the paper but the transfer of the right to use the ideas written down on such paper. Therefore, the court held that the agreement to prepare a market analysis is not a sale of goods within the meaning of articles 1 or 3 CISG.