Uber was ordered to pay 40,000 euros in damages for having diverted the lights from Parisian taxis in an advertising campaign deemed unfair.
The Paris Economic Activities Court, formerly a commercial court, condemned the Uber platform for unfair competition, accusing it of having misused the emblematic light placed on the roof of taxis in an advertising campaign. The decision follows a dispute relating to an advertisement broadcast in the spring of 2025 by the American car reservation giant, which had used posters reproducing this obligatory lighting, replacing the words “Parisian taxi” with “Parisian Uber”.
A campaign deemed parasitic
The incriminated campaign aimed to promote the Uber Taxi offer, which allows customers to book a trip with a Parisian taxi driver via the application. For the court, this advertising constitutes an act of “parasitism”: the company “appropriated without authorization the notoriety of Parisian taxis”, by “taking undue advantage of their efforts and the notoriety acquired”. The platform therefore “voluntarily operates (…) a double confusion”, in particular between “the activity of VTC, which has made Uber famous, and that of taxi, even though the activities of VTC and taxis fall under separate legal regimes”. This confusion constitutes “an unfair commercial practice”, conclude the magistrates.
The American company was ordered to pay 40,000 euros in damages for moral damage to two trade unions, as well as 10,000 euros for their legal costs. She is also prohibited from using this visual with any other words than “Parisian taxi”, “subject to a fine of 50,000 euros per violation noted”. The requests from three other organizations, including the National Union of Taxi Industries (UNIT), were however declared invalid for questions of legal form.
Sector reactions and context
Uber recalls “that at no time has the court called into question the legality of the Uber Taxi service” and emphasizes that “5,000 taxi drivers have chosen to join our application in order to diversify their income”.
The taxi unions and the G7 company, however, remain firmly opposed to this offer. They particularly contest the flat prices offered by Uber for trips carried out by taxis via its application, believing that the use of the meter remains a legal obligation.
