according to § 369 HGB right of retention
In the case of mutual commercial transactions, Section 369 HGB allows the merchant a lien-like right of satisfaction on goods or securities against the other party to the contract. In the event of insolvency, Section 51 No. 3 InsO allows the commercial right of retention the right to separate satisfaction.
§ Section 369 HGB
1) A merchant has a right of retention to the movable goods and securities of the debtor which have come into his possession with his will on the basis of commercial transactions, insofar as he still has them in his possession, in particular can dispose of them by means of bills of lading, consignment bills or warehouse receipts, due to the claims due to him against another merchant from the mutual commercial transactions concluded between them. The right of retention is also justified if ownership of the object has been transferred from the debtor to the creditor or has been transferred from a third party to the creditor on behalf of the debtor but has been transferred back to the debtor.
§ Section 371 HGB
(1) The creditor is authorized by virtue of the right of retention to satisfy his claim from the retained object. If a third party has a right to the object against which the right of retention can be asserted pursuant to section 369 (2), the creditor shall have priority with regard to satisfaction from the object.
(2) Satisfaction shall be effected in accordance with the provisions of the German Civil Code applicable to the pledge of rights. The period of one month specified in section 1234 of the Civil Code shall be replaced by a period of one week.
(3) If satisfaction does not take place by way of compulsory enforcement, it shall be admissible only after the creditor has obtained an enforceable title for his right to satisfaction against the owner or, if the object belongs to him, against the debtor; in the latter case, the provisions of the Civil Code relating to the owner on satisfaction shall apply mutatis mutandis to the debtor. In the absence of an enforceable title, the sale of the object is not lawful.
(4) The action for permission to satisfy the claim may be brought before the court in whose district the creditor has his general place of jurisdiction or the place of jurisdiction of his place of business.
