A German appeals court Thursday threw out the conviction of a trader for distributing goods with crossed-out swastikas on them.

Thirty-two-year-old Juergen Kamm was fined 3,600 euros last year for using crossed-out swastikas in stickers, buttons and T-shirts to protest far-right extremism.

The lower court in Stuttgart convicted Kamm of violating laws prohibiting the reproduction of Nazi symbols or slogans, even though his actions were a protest against right-wing extremists.

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The Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe ruled that it was not a criminal offence to display symbols that are "obviously and clearly" meant to demonstrate opposition to Nazism.

The appeals court said it was clear that the articles distributed by Kamm in his online shop "Nix Gut" were against the Nazi ideology.