A court in Munich has rejected a woman's legal bid to obtain the name of a man she spent three nights in a hotel with seven years ago.
The woman gave birth to a son nine months after the encounter in Halle, eastern Germany, and sought to force the hotel to reveal her lover's full identity.
She wanted the man, whom she knew only by the first name Michael, to pay child support.
Judges rejected her request, arguing that it could unduly breach the privacy of four men with that name who were registered at the hotel during the period.
The case was first published late Monday by news website Spiegel Online. The woman was not identified.