If your company has been the victim of any dishonest or illegal conduct at the hands of a competitor or former employee, you should speak with an experienced Dallas unfair competition lawyer who can advise you of your options. Call Lindquist Woods Edwards LLP at 214-382-9789 to speak with one of our attorneys today.
Full Answer
What Is Unfair Competition? Unfair competition addresses circumstances where consumers have been misled, or deceptive trade practices, as well as practices designed to restrict or alter a company's revenue. In all cases, the activity can legally give rise to a tort action.Jul 29, 2020
The law of unfair competition is mainly governed by state common law. Federal law may apply in the areas of trademarks, copyrights, and false advertising. See Trademark, Copyright, and § 1125 of the Lanham Act.
The Unfair Competition Prevention Act prohibits various activities such as the unauthorized use of well-known/famous indications of goods, imitation of product forms, illegal acquisition/use/disclosure of trade secrets, illegal use of domain names and assertion or dissemination of false information with respect to a ...
The Unfair Competition Law of California prohibits false advertising and illegal business practices. The law is also known as the state's UCL. The law describes “unfair competition” as any unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business act or practice, or false, deceptive, or misleading advertising.
Unauthorized substitution Sometimes called the “bait and switch,” this illegal method involves someone misrepresenting a product, and after the sale, substituting the product with a version (“knockoff”) of lesser quality. This tactic often goes hand in hand with trademark infringement.Oct 20, 2017
Unfair competition is using illegal, deceptive, and fraudulent selling practices that harm consumers or other businesses to gain a competitive advantage in the market. Federal and state laws fight against these issues.Feb 16, 2022
Definition of fair competition : competition reasonable in view of the interests of those competing and the public and not involving practices condemned by law as inimical to the public interest — compare unfair competition.
The WIPO Model Provisions on Protection Against Unfair Competition defines the “failure to correct or supplement information concerning a product test published in a consumer magazine, thereby giving a wrong impression of the quality of the product offered on the market, or failure to give sufficient information ...
The phrase unfair trade practices can be defined as any business practice or act that is deceptive, fraudulent, or causes injury to a consumer.
Parking Tickets to Debtors' Prison Across the country, thousands of people are unconstitutionally jailed simply for being poor. States pile on fines and fees, even when it is clear that the person is simply too poor to pay. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that someone cannot be punished for being poor.
(1) [General Principle] Any false or unjustifiable allegation, in the course of industrial or commercial activities, that discredits, or is likely to discredit, another's enterprise or its activities, in particular, the products or services offered by such enterprise, shall constitute an act of unfair competition.
The most basic type of unfair competition is when a company misrepresents its product as someone else’s. This is colloquially known as “passing off” of “palming off.” Perhaps more common is “reverse passing off,” i.e. when a company misrepresents someone else’s product as its own.
In Texas, there is also a business tort for misappropriating another company’s trade secrets. A “trade secret” can include any kind of “pattern, device or compilation of information which is used in one’s business,” and which confers some sort of competitive advantage in the marketplace. Trade secrets usually relate to the manufacture of a specific product. Think of the “secret formula” for widely used commercial products like Coca-Cola or Kentucky Fried Chicken.
It is also possible to commit misappropriation that does not involve a “secret.” Common law misappropriation covers situations where a defendant misuses a plaintiff’s publicly available product. In a famous 1993 case from Austin, a defendant purchase a tape of animal sounds recorded by the plaintiff. The defendant then sold its own tape in direct competition with the plaintiff.