Unfair Competition Law






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Unfair Competition Law deals with a wide variety of laws that are enforced to protect consumers and businesses alike against deceptive business practices. Some examples in commercial law include: trademark infringements, trade defamation and misappropriation of business trade secrets. Whereas for consumers, unfair competition deals more with unfair pricing strategies and false representations.

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Unfair Competition Law - US

  • ALI - Restatements of the Law - Unfair Competition

    This project, which addresses the right to compete, deceptive marketing, the law of trademarks, and related concepts of intangible property and correlative rights, marked the first time the Institute had addressed the subject of unfair competition since publication of the original Restatement of Torts more than half a century earlier. Together these subjects were to have been included in the Second Restatement of Torts, as they were in the first Restatement. See Restatement Second, Torts, Vol. 4, Introduction, vii-viii. It was eventually decided, however, that they should be addressed in a separate project.

  • Business Torts - Commercial Disparagement

    Since 1990, commercial torts against business have increased more than personal torts against individuals, and small business bears a disproportionate amount of liability costs. It is the small business — perhaps a family-run business, a tech startup, or a local business employing a handful of people — that bears the biggest burden.

  • Federal Trade Commission - Bureau of Competition

    The Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition champions the rights of American consumers by promoting and protecting free and vigorous competition. The Bureau: * reviews mergers and acquisitions, and challenges those that would likely lead to higher prices, fewer choices, or less innovation; * seeks out and challenges anticompetitive conduct in the marketplace, including monopolization and agreements between competitors; * promotes competition in industries where consumer impact is high, such as health care, real estate, oil & gas, technology, and consumer goods; * provides information, and holds conferences and workshops, for consumers, businesses, and policy makers on competition issues and market analysis.

  • Federal Trade Commission Act - Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices

    The Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") is an independent agency established by Congress in 1914 to enforce the Federal Trade Commission Act ("FTC Act").(1) Section 5 of the FTC Act prohibits "unfair methods of competition," and was amended in 1938 also to prohibit "unfair or deceptive acts or practices."(2) The Commission enforces a variety of other antitrust and consumer protection laws as well.

  • Federal Trade Commission's Investigative and Law Enforcement Authority

    The Commission's specific investigative powers are defined in Sections 6, 9, and 20 of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. Secs. 46, 49, and 57b-1, which authorize investigations and various forms of compulsory process. In addition, the premerger notification provisions in Section 7A of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. Sec. 18a, prohibit consummation of covered acquisitions until the requested information is provided, thus effectively enabling the Commission to obtain information regarding such acquisitions.

  • Noerr-Pennington Doctrine - Overview

    Under the Noerr-Pennington doctrine, private entities are immune from liability under the antitrust laws for attempts to influence the passage or enforcement of laws, even if the laws they advocate for would have anti-competitive effects.

  • Unfair Competition - Definition

    Unfair competition in a general sense means that the competitors compete on unequal terms, because favourable or disadvantageous conditions are applied to some competitors but not to others; or that the actions of some competitors actively harm the position of others with respect to their ability to compete on equal and fair terms. It contrasts with fair competition, in which the same rules and conditions are applied to all participants, and the competitive action of some does not harm the ability of others to compete. Often, unfair competition means that the gains of some participants are conditional on the losses of others, where the gains are made in ways which are illegitimate or unjust.

  • Unfair Methods of Competition

    Unfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce, are hereby declared unlawful.

  • USDOJ - Unfair Competition - FTC Act - Sherman Act - Clayton Act

    Federal antitrust laws apply to virtually all industries and to every level of business, including manufacturing, transportation, distribution, and marketing. They prohibit a variety of practices that restrain trade, such as price-fixing conspiracies, corporate mergers likely to reduce the competitive vigor of particular markets, and predatory acts designed to achieve or maintain monopoly power.

Organizations Related to Unfair Competition Law

  • American Antitrust Institute (AAI)

    The American Antitrust Institute is an independent Washington-based non-profit education, research, and advocacy organization. Our mission is to increase the role of competition, assure that competition works in the interests of consumers, and challenge abuses of concentrated economic power in the American and world economy. We have a centrist legal-economic ideology and promote the vigorous use of antitrust as a vital component of national and international competition policy.

  • International League of Competition Law (LIDC)

    The International League of Competition Law (LIDC) is a long standing association which focuses on the study of competition (antitrust) law, intellectual property law and unfair competition, both at the national and international levels. It promotes mainly the principles of fairness and justice in competitive trade.

Articles on Hg.org Related to Unfair Competition Law

  • Immoral But Not Always Illegal: Price Gouging After Natural Disaster
    The recent floods in Colorado have brought a problem to the forefront: post-disaster price gouging. While 35 states have made this a crime, there are still 15, Colorado included, where this is merely considered capitalism.
  • Merger of American Airlines and US Airways After Bankruptcy May Face Anti-Trust Law Issues
    A bankruptcy judge in New York has endorsed a plan to merge American Airlines and US Airways. That approval, however, is contingent upon the outcome of an anti-trust lawsuit filed by the US Department of Justice which asserts that such a merger would deprive the marketplace of choice and competition.
  • Video Deposition Formats - What They Are and How to Choose
    This article was written to help explain the various video formats available to attorneys after conducting a video deposition.
  • What to Look for in a Video Deposition
    This article is an attempt to illuminate both the rudimentary and nuanced strategies required to consistently produce high-quality video depositions. I often worry that attorneys who order them are unaware that the footage for which they have paid dearly, is of exceedingly poor production value. The bottom line: all video depositions should look nearly identical (except for the witness, of course); it is the means by which that end is achieved that separates excellence from inferiority.
  • Clinical Integration and the Rochester Network Advisory Opinion
    The Rochester Network Advisory Opinion is one of the few sources that we have to get a glimpse of what is required for a health care organization to "clinically integrate." Clinical integration is one method to reduce risk under the antitrust laws. Some of the details of the advisory opinion are discussed and analyzed by provider integration attorney John Fisher.
  • May a Physician Compete against His or Her Former Practice?
    If you are in a group medical practice, you might wonder, “Can I or another doctor in this practice set up a competing practice?” “Will a non-competition agreement prevent it?” These questions are crucial both to the existing group and the physician who would set up the competing practice.
  • Shareholder Buy-sell Agreements for Medical Corporations
    In this article I explain shareholder buy-sell agreements for physicians and medical corporations. A buy-sell agreement (also called a shareholders agreement) protects the corporation from the physician / shareholders, specifically their death, loss of license, disability, divorce and dispute.
  • The Stamp War - Shoot Five: Gaylord v. United States
    In litigation that already has lasted nearly twice as long as the war itself, volleys are still being fired over the copyright for a portion of the memorial to a war that ended in armistice and not peace. On May 14, 2012, Gaylord v. United States was remanded by the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to the U. S. Court of Federal Claims for another shot at determining the amount of damages, the fifth courthouse battle in this protracted campaign.
  • Attorneys: Five Tips to Sour Your Relationship With Your Court Reporter
    A recent meeting of court reporting firm owners from across the country began with an ice breaker. In two minutes each table was challenged to list as many things lawyers do that frustrate us. As a representative from each table read off their lists, among growing laughter and groans, clear trends were revealed. It seems the top five ways to sour your relationship with your court reporter are:
  • SOPA Analysis: Why One Bill Threatened the Entire Internet
    The reason that SOPA garnered so much attention was largely due to vague language that seemed to provide the government with a very wide scope of power to shut down websites and block access. While the possibility of restrictions may have looked like censorship to a public used to a laissez-faire approach to internet access, the main targets of SOPA were primarily foreign websites that hosted libraries of pirated content.
  • All Antitrust and Trade Regulation Law Articles

    Articles written by attorneys and experts worldwide discussing legal aspects related to Antitrust and Trade Regulation including: competition law, international trade, trade investment and unfair competition.