Coop advertising approved by the Federal Court

 The Federal Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Corner Bank against Coop's credit card advertising. The bank complained that the card, which had been advertised as "free" for around a year, was not free at all: a fee was charged for cash withdrawals in Switzerland and for services and goods purchased abroad. At first instance, the Aargau Commercial Court had already ruled that Coop had acted unfairly. The action has now also been dismissed by the Federal Supreme Court. An average, attentive consumer would not assume from the advertising for the free credit card that all services and goods purchases offered with this card would be provided free of charge. According to the Lausanne judges, the consumer would rather assume that, unlike other cards, no fixed annual fee would be charged for the Coop card. According to the Basler Zeitung, Corner Bank must pay the court costs of CHF 12,000 and pay Coop compensation of CHF 14,000.