Gewinnherausgabe als haftungsrechtliches Problem

Present German liability law is not based on a coherent system of disgorgement of profits. If disgorgement of profits is allowed, there will be a danger that the injured party receives more than he would have if the matter had been allowed to take its course without disruption. If however disgorgement of profits is rejected, the lawbreaker will keep the profits which he would not have made without the breach of the law. Tobias Helms examines all the countervailing measures in German liability law and shows that the disgorgement of profits does not really aim at preventing violations of the law in general; it actually constitutes a sanction for a specific injustice. The author describes the criteria on which the granting of disgorgement awards under current German law should really depend.