Unfair competition law: European Union and Member States

Abstract:

Despite their differences, all 25 Member States of the European Union agree that commercial activities should be controlled in the interests of market participants and that there must be rules to secure fairness. At the community level, there is a growing body of regulatory law dealing with unfair commercial practices. Within this framework, however, unfair competition law remains a matter for national law which depends on legal traditions, and cultural, linguistic and historical particularities. It is only the two combined, the European requirements - including the judicial practice of the ECJ on the fundamental freedoms - and national laws, which create European Unfair Competition Law.

The book delineates, with clarity and precision, the working of unfair competition law throughout the European Union. Its four comprehensive chapters encompass: basic considerations of definition, subject matter, enforcement, and applicable law; international provisions under the Paris convention, TRIPS, and WIPO model law; analysis of relevant EC directives and regulations and ECJ jurisprudence; and extensive discussions of the national unfair competition laws of all 25 Member States.

For each Member State, specific topics covered include such considerations as the following: sources of law; competition law in a nutshell; regulation of advertising; direct marketing; sales promotion; risk of confusion; disparagement and defamation; misappropriation and imitation; impediment of competitors; and breach of the law. The author also provides a selected bibliography of sources for each country.