Another week, another regulatory battle for Uber, the Silicon Valley private car hire network with a German name. This time it is in Germany, where a Frankfurt court has banned its Uber Pop“ride-sharing” service that introduces passengers to unlicensed drivers through a smartphone app.

In a narrow sense, the court is right. Not only is Uber breaking German law but the country is correct to demand that a company that operates what is blatantly a private hire business is appropriately licensed and regulated. Pretending that Uber Pop is part of the “sharing economy” and should be allowed to skirt the rules is neither fair to taxi-drivers nor sound policy.

In the broad sense, however, Uber is right. If what the state of California now calls a Transportation Network Company – a technology platform such as Uber and Lyft that expands the market for minicabs and private hire – is prevented from operating on a commercial basis, it is bad for consumers. The potential benefits of innovation are lost.