Law Against Unfair Competition: Towards a New Paradigm in Europe? (MPI Studies on Intellectual Property and Competition Law Book 1)

Unfair competition law is concerned with fair play in commerce. It is generally regarded as necessary – together with antitrust law – in order to steer competition along an orderly course, and thereby to contribute to promoting an efficient market system that serves the interests of all participants. Nevertheless the significance of unfair competition law varies from one country to another. Whereas in some countries, such as Germany, it is seen as one of the most effective commercial laws, in other countries, such as the United Kingdom, it leads rather a shadowy existence. From the outset, this discrepancy laid in the differences in national legal s- tems. Whilst those continental European countries that possessed a written civil law when instances of unfair competition emerged, more or less successfully attempted to incorporate them in the existing tort law system, protection in the common law countries was restricted to some narrowly defined torts, in particular “passing off”. At this stage one of the few shared convictions was, that the protection of “honest entrepreneurs” was at issue; on this basis, in 1900, the only regulation at the int- bis national level until now was enacted, Art. 10 of the Paris Convention. Front Matter....Pages I-X The Law Against Unfair Competition and Its Interfaces....Pages 1-52 International Unfair Competition Law....Pages 53-60 Protection Against Unfair Competition at the International Level — The Paris Convention, the 1996 Model Provisions and the Current Work of the World Intellectual Property Organisation....Pages 61-76 The Law Against Unfair Competition and the EC Treaty....Pages 77-99 The ECJ’s Case Law on Unfair Competition....Pages 101-109 Secondary Unfair Competition Law....Pages 111-125 The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive....Pages 127-137 Belgian Report: Example of an Integrated Approach....Pages 139-150 Brief Report on Italian Unfair Competition Law....Pages 151-160 The Scandinavian Model of Unfair Competition Law....Pages 161-181 Unfair Competition Law in the United Kingdom....Pages 183-198 The Legal Framework of Unfair Market Practices in Hungary....Pages 199-204 The Law Against Unfair Competition in the Czech Republic....Pages 205-209 The Legal Regulation of Unfair Competition in the Slovak Republic....Pages 211-220 Unfair Competition Law in Slovenia....Pages 221-229 Poland: Unfair Competition Law....Pages 231-248 Unfair Competition Law in the Baltic States....Pages 249-257 Back Matter....Pages 259-271 Annotation This book examines the present state of harmonization of unfair competition law in Europe. It discusses the particular approach to unfair competition law in the 10 new Member States and the possible impact on the future development of European unfair competition law. The book presents new insight in the importance of unfair competition law, especially in countries with a developing market economy