Uber has announced that it would appeal the decision, which only affects the budget UberPop service, and maintain its operations in the country, even though its employees – not, interestingly, its freelance drivers – could be arrested for violating the Frankfurt court's injunction. The company's luxury minded Uber Black service, which is more akin to a chauffeured livery service rather than a cab, is not affected by the court ruling.
The court claims that some of the Uber pilots were lacking the proper permits and insurance necessary to work as a cabbie. The company is currently facing a 250,000-euro fine (about $330,000 at today's rates), a figure that's only set to increase if the company continues to violate the German ban.
The latest complaint was brought by trade body Taxi Deutschland, whose chairman, Dieter Schlenker, compared the start-up's business model to a "locust."
"Uber operates with billions of cash from Goldman Sachs and Google, wraps itself up to look like a start-up and sells itself as the saviour of the new economy," Schlenker said, according to NYT.
As for Uber? "You cannot put the brakes on progress," the company said in a statement.
