Unfair Competition Law European Union and Member States

Unfair Competition Law European Union and Member States By Frauke Henning-Bodewig KLUWERLAW INTERNATIONAL

Preliminary Comment: Is There a European Unfair Competition Law? xv Chapter 1. Basic Considerations 1 I. "Unfair competition" as a separate field of law? Some (historical) observations 1 II. Demarcation from other fields of law 3 1. Tort law 3 2. Intellectual property laws 4 3. Consumer (contract) law 6 4. Antitrustlaw 7 III. Subject matters of unfair competition law 8 IV. The general clause and the definition of "unfair" 9 V. Enforcement 10 VI. Applicable law, multi-state conflicts, country-of-origin principle 11 1. The "market-place" principle 11 2. Country-of-origin principle 12 a. Article 28 EC and the country-of-origin-principle 12 b. Secondary Community law 13 Chapter 2. International Protection Against Unfair Competition 17 I. The Paris Convention 17 1. Development of unfair competition law in the Paris Convention 17 2. Risk of confusion, discrediting, misleading allegations and the general clause of "honest trade practices" 19 a. Risk of confusion 19 b. Discrediting competitors, misleading allegations 20 c. "Honest practices" 20 II. Trips 21 III. WIPO Model Provisions on Protection Against Unfair Competition 23 Chapter 3. Protection Against Unfair Competition Law on the Community Level 25 I. Primary and Secondary Community law 25 II. The role of the European Court of Justice 26 III. National Unfair Competition Law and Articles 28, 49 EC 26 1. Basic principles of the ECJ 26 a. Article 28 EC 26 b. Article 49 EC 29 2. Some landmark judgmentsof the ECJ 29 a. Article 28 EC 29 b. Article 49 of the EC Treaty 30 c. The benchmark of the "European Consumer"; the determination of deception 31

IV. Secondary Community Law: Directives, Regulations 34 1. Basis of secondary Community law 34 2. History and present State of harmonisation 34 3. Directive 84/450/EEC concerning misleading advertising 36 a. Scope of application and purpose of protection 36 b. The concept of misleading 37 c. Criteria to determine the capacity to mislead 39 d. Enforcement 40 4. Directive 97/55/EC concerning comparative advertising 41 a. Füll harmonisation 41 b. Scope of application and purpose of protection 41 c. The reference to a competitor 43 d. Misleading comparisons 44 e. Comparison of products for the same needs or purpose 46 f. Objective comparison of material, relevant, verifiable and representative features 46 g. Comparisons creating confusion 47 h. Discrediting or denigrating comparisons 47 i. Comparisons exploiting a competitor's reputation 48 j. Designations of origin, imitations, Special offers 49 5. Directive 89/452/EC on Television Broadcasting Activities 49 a. Scope of application 49 b. Regulation of TV advertising 50 c. Regulation of Sponsoring 52 d. Minimum Standard and country-of-origin principle 52 6. Directive 2003/33/EC on Tobacco Advertising 54 7. Directive 97/7/EC on Distance Contracts 55 8. Directive 2000/31/EC on Electronic Commerce 55 a. Scope of application, purpose of protection 55 b. Commercial Communications 56 c. Country-of-origin principle 57 9. Directive 2002/58/EC on Privacy in Electronic Communications 57 10. Directive 2005/29/EC on Unfair Commercial Practices 58 a. Relationship to other Directives and to national unfair competition law 58 b. Scope of application and purpose of protection 59 c. General clause 59 d. Misleading commercial practices 61 1. Scope of application 61 2. Misleading actions 61 3. Misleading omissions 61 4. "Blacklist" of misleading practices 62 e. Aggressive commercial practices 64 1. Harassment, coercion, undue influence 64 2. "Blacklist" of aggressive commercial practices 64 f. Enforcement 65 g. Internal market clause 66 11. The Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation 66 12. The proposed Regulation on Sales Promotion 67 VI

Chapter 4. Unfair Competition Law in the Member States 69 I. Austria 69 70 2. Austrian competition law in a nutshell 70 71 71 72 73 73 e. Product- and media-specific advertising regulations 73 f. Other advertising regulations 74 74 75 6. Risk of confusion 75 7. Disparagement, defamation 76 8. Misappropriation, imitation 76 9. Impediment of competitors 76 10. Breachofthelaw 77 77 II. Belgium 77 78 2. Belgian unfair competition law in a nutshell 78 80 80 81 c. Aggressive advertising 82 d. Concealed advertising 82 e. Advertising rules for specific media and products 82 4. Special sales methods, direct marketing 83 83 6. Discrediting, denigration 84 7. Misappropriation, slavish imitation, passing off 84 8. Breachofthelaw 85 9. Enforcement 85 III. Czech Republic 85 86 2. Czech unfair competition law in a nutshell 86 87 87 88 88 89 e. Product and media specific advertising regulations 89 f. Other regulations of advertising 89 89 89 6. Risk of confusion 90 7. Denigration, exploitationof reputation 90 8. Misappropriation, imitation 91 vii

9. Impediment of competitors 91 10. Breachoflaw 91 11. Other forms of unfair competition 91 12. Enforcement 91 IV. Cyprus 92 92 2. Cypriot unfair competition law in a nutshell 92 3. Misleading and comparative advertising 92 4. Otherwise regulated advertising measures 93 5. Advertising in the telecommunications area 93 6. Impediment of competitors 93 7. Misappropriation, imitation, risk of confusion 93 V. Denmark 94 94 2. Danish unfair competition law in a nutshell 94 95 95 96 97 97 e. Advertising regulations for specific product and media 97 f. Other advertising regulations 97 98 99 6. Disparagement and denigration 99 7. Misappropriation, risk of confusion, imitation 100 8. Impediment of competitors 100 9. Breachofthelaw 100 10. Enforcement 101 VI. Estonia 101 101 2. Estonian unfair competition law in a nutshell 101 102 102 102 103 d. Product- and media-specific advertising regulation 103 e. Other regulations on advertising 103 4. Information duties 103 5. Direct marketing, specific marketing techniques 104 6. Disparagement 104 7. Passing off, imitation 104 8. Impediment of competitors 104 9. Enforcement 104 VII. Finland 105 105 2. Finnish unfair competition law in a nutshell 105 107 107 108 Vlll

e. Advertising regulations for specific products f. Other Regulations on Advertising 4. Information duties 5. Direct marketing 6. Sales promotion 7. Disparagement and denigration 8. Misappropriation, imitation 9. Breachofthelaw 10. Enforcement VIII. France 2. French unfair competition law in a nutshell d. Other advertising regulations e. Regulations for specific media and products 6. Disparagement 7. Danger of confusion 8. Misappropriation, imitation 9. Impediment of competitors 10. Breachoflaw IX. Germany 2. German unfair competition law in a nutshell e. Advertising regulation for Special products etc. f. Other forms of advertising 6. Disparagement and denigration 7. Risk of confusion; misappropriation 8. Impediment of competitors 9. Breach of the law 10. Enforcement X. GreatBritain 2. English unfair competition law in a nutshell 3. Advertisement 109 109 109 110 110 110 111 112 112 112 112 113 113 113 115 115 118 119 120 120 120 121 122 123 123 124 124 124 125 126 126 129 129 131 132 133 133 133 134 134 135 135 136 136 136 137 138 138 142 145 IX

6. Defamation, disparagement 7. Danger of confusion 8. Misappropriation 9. Impediment of competitors 10. Breachoflaw XI. Greece 2. Greek unfair competition law in a nutshell e. Product and media specific advertising regulations f. Other advertising regulations 6. Denigration, disparagement 7. Danger of confusion 8. Misappropriation, imitation 9. Impediment of competitors 10. Breachoflaw XII. Hungary 2. Hungarian unfair competition law in a nutshell c. Disguised advertising d. Intrusive advertising e. Product- and media-specific advertising regulation (references) f. Other regulations on advertising 4. Information requirements 5. Direct marketing, specific marketing methods 6. Sales promotion 7. Disparagement 8. Passing off, imitations 9. Obstructive competition 10. Breach of statutory duty 11. Remedies, procedure XIII. Ireland 2. Irish competition law in a nutshell 3. Advertisement 4. Sales promotion 5. Direct marketing 147 147 148 148 148 148 148 149 150 150 152 152 153 153 154 154 154 155 155 156 156 156 157 157 157 157 158 158 159 160 161 161 162 162 162 163 163 163 163 164 164 164 164 165 165 165 166 170 171

6. Disparagement, denigration and misappropriation 7. Danger of confusion 8. Misappropriation; imitation 9. Impediment of competitors 10. Breachofthelaw XIV. Italy 2. Italian unfair competition law in a nutshell e. Other advertising regulations f. Media- and product-specific advertising regulations 6. Disparagement and denigration 7. Misappropriation, imitation, risk of confusion 8. Impediment of competitors 9. Breach of the law 10. Indications of geographic origin XV. Latvia 2. Latvian unfair competition law in a nutshell d. Product- and media-specific advertising regulation e. Other regulations on advertising 4. Information requirements 5. Direct marketing, specific marketing methods 6. Sales promotion 7. Disparagement 8. Passing off, imitation 9. Obstructive competition 10. Breachoflaw XVI. Lithuania 2. Lithuanian unfair competition law in a nutshell d. Product- and media-specific advertising e. Other regulations on advertising 171 172 172 172 172 172 173 174 174 175 175 176 177 178 178 178 179 179 180 181 181 182 182 182 183 183 183 184 184 184 185 185 185 185 185 187 187 187 188 188 188 188 188 189 XI

xii 4. Information requirements 189 5. Direct marketing; specific marketing methods 189 6. Sales promotion 189 7. Disparagement 190 8. Passing off, imitation 190 9. Impediment of competitors 190 10. Breachoflaw 190 190 XVII. Luxembourg 191 191 2. Luxembourg's unfair competition law in a nutshell 191 192 192 193 194 194 e. Product- and media-specific advertising regulations 194 195 195 6. Denigration and disparagement 196 7. Misappropriation, exploitation of reputation, imitation 196 8. Impediment of competitors 197 9. Enforcement 197 XVIII. Malta 198 198 2. Maltese unfair competition law in a nutshell 198 XIX. Netherlands 200 1. Dutch unfair competition law in a nutshell 200 2. Regulation of advertising 201 201 203 204 204 e. Other advertising 204 f. Product- and media-specific advertising regulations 205 3. Direct marketing; Special sales methods 205 4. Sales promotion 206 5. Disparagement 206 6. Misappropriation, exploitation of reputation, imitation 207 7. Impediment of competitors 207 8. Breachofthelaw 208 9. Enforcement 208 XX. Poland 209 209 2. Polish unfair competition law in a nutshell 209 211 211 212 c. Disguised advertising 212 d. Intrusive advertising 213

e. Advertising rules for certain products and media f. Other regulations on advertising, specific marketing techniques 6. Disparagement, exploitation of goodwill 7. Passing off, imitation 8. Impediment of competitors 9. Breach of statutory duty 10. Sanctions, procedural rules XXI. Portugal 2. Portuguese unfair competition law in a nutshell e. Product and media specific regulations f. Other advertising regulations 6. Disparagement, danger of confusion 7. Misappropriation, exploitation of reputation, imitation 8. Impediment of competitors 9. Breachoflaw 10. Enforcement XXII. Slovak Republic 2. Unfair competition law of Slovakia in a nutshell e. Product and media specific advertising regulations f. Other advertising regulations 6. Danger of confusion, disparagement, misappropriation of reputation, imitation, impediment of competitors; breach of the law 7. Enforcement XXIII. Slovenia 2. Slovenian unfair competition law in a nutshell c. Other advertising regulations 4. Sales promotion 213 213 214 215 215 215 215 216 217 218 218 218 220 220 220 221 221 221 221 222 222 222 223 223 223 223 224 224 224 225 225 226 226 226 227 227 228 228 228 229 229 229 229 231 231 231 231 232 Xlll

5. Danger of confusion 232 6. Disparagement, exploitation of reputation 232 7. Slavish imitation 232 8. Impediment of competitors 232 9. Enforcement 233 XXIV. Spain 233 234 2. Spanish competition law in a nutshell 234 236 236 236 237 237 e. Product and media specific advertising Prohibitions 238 f. Other advertising regulations 238, Special sales 238 239 6. Danger of confusion 240 7. Disparagement, denigration 240 8. Misappropriation, imitation 240 9. Impediment of competitors 241 10. Breachoflaw 241 241 XXV. Sweden 242 242 2. Swedish unfair competition law in a nutshell 242 244 244 245 246 d. Harassing, intrusive advertising 246 e. Advertising regulations for specific products and media 246 f. Other advertising regulations 247 4. Information duties 248 5. Direct marketing, Special methods of advertising 248 6. Sales promotion 249 7. Disparagement, exploitation of reputation 249 8. Misappropriation, imitation 250 9. Breachofthelaw 251 10. Enforcement 251 xiv