Facts
The cooperative society 'Vertglas, Genossenschaft der Schweizerischen Glasgrosshändler' aims to regulate the purchase and sale of glass. The company Wwe. Alfred Giesbrecht Söhne, which operates both the glass trade and glazing, applied to join the cooperative society. However, the cooperative society refused admission because Wwe. Alfred Giesbrecht Söhne had not signed the distributor contract and did not meet the admission requirements.
Wwe. Alfred Giesbrecht Söhne brought an action before the court to request its admission to the cooperative society and to obtain damages. The commercial court of the canton of Zurich dismissed the application. The company Wwe. Alfred Giesbrecht Söhne appealed to the Federal Court.
Considerations
1. The refusal to admit a member to a cooperative society
The Federal Court considered that the cooperative society could refuse to admit a member if the latter pursued goals contrary to the interests of the society. In this case, Wwe. Alfred Giesbrecht Söhne operated both the glass trade and glazing, which was prohibited for members of the cooperative society.
2. The boycott
The Federal Court also considered that the cooperative society had exercised a boycott against Wwe. Alfred Giesbrecht Söhne by refusing to supply it with glass on equal terms to those of the members of the cooperative society. The boycott is an unlawful measure that violates the right to personality tending to the free exercise of an economic activity.
3. Justification of the boycott
The Federal Court considered that the boycott could only be justified if the cooperative society could prove that it had predominant legitimate interests that could not be safeguarded in any other way.…