In March 2009 an EU regulation began to take the ordinary incandescent light bulb off the market. Soon such bulbs were imported into Germany as Heatballs, small heaters. The argument was that a bulb gives off 95 percent of its energy as heat.
In July 2011 the administrative court in Aachen was not convinced. Consumers would see Heatballs as bulbs for lighting, the court said, not as small heaters.
Not every German welcomed a more efficient product when the law required it.