On Thursday June 9 Frankfurt’s Higher Regional Court will deal with Uber’s appeal against the ban of UberPOP following an earlier sentence on March 18, last year. Although Uber-Germany boss Christian Freese always assures – in interviews – they had “adapted the business model which was banned by the courts”, the company continues to take the taxi industry through the courts.

Uber appealed against the March 2015 ban. This appeal will be heard on Thursday. A possible outcome is that UberPOP will be finally banned in Germany – nationwide – and can not go to revision. If the judges agree, Uber might take this case to a higher court.

Dieter Schlenker, chairman of the Taxi Germany cooperative and its app, comment: “We do this in lieu of those who can’t defend themselves against large corporate interests – we fight. There are some 21,000 small entrepreneurs, employees in 700 taxi companies and around 255,000 taxi drivers in Germany: the largest low-wage group in Germany. These are also consumers. And Uber ignored the Transportation Act (PbfG) which protects consumers. In there it is clearly defined: Each trip must be fair, good and safe. We are confident that this week the courts will decide in favour of consumers and small business owners.”

“Uber does not want to comply with the German laws, but wants to soften existing laws. However, laws have no expiration date. They are not there for Uber but for the protection of society.”

• Taxi Germany fights for 225.000 taxi drivers in Germany.