A German court has fined a social networking giant Facebook for refusing to follow an order of adequately informing users about how it was using their intellectual property.
The court fined Facebook 100,000 euros (USD109,000).
A spokesperson for Facebook, however, said that the problem was with the timing rather than the message.
“We complied with the order to clarify a single provision in our terms concerning an IP license a while ago. The court felt we did not update our terms quickly enough and has issued a fine, which we will pay,” a Facebook spokesperson said.
The Berlin regional court ruled that Facebook had not adequately changed the wording of a clause on intellectual property in its terms and conditions after a complaint was filed by the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (VZBV), Reuters reported.
“Facebook is persistently trying to evade consumer laws in Germany and Europe. Companies must implement judicial decisions and can’t simply sit them out.” VZBV head Klaus Mueller said in a statement.