Passing Off and Imitation of Product Design under the Unfair Competition Law

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
pp. 475-513
Author(s):  
Mungi Jeong ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Product Design ◽  
Competition Law ◽  
Unfair Competition ◽  
Passing Off ◽  
Unfair Competition Law

The reform of passing off in Chinese Law: effects of the 2017 revision of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 314-338
Author(s):  
Shujie Feng
Keyword(s):  
Competition Law ◽  
General Rule ◽  
Vice President ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Unfair Competition ◽  
Tsinghua University ◽  
Passing Off ◽  
Procedural Law ◽  
Unfair Competition Law ◽  
University Of Paris

Confusion, or passing off, is a typical unfair practice recognized internationally, but national laws still differ from each other. Although the Chinese Anti-Unfair Competition Law of 1993 provided a narrow rule on passing off, a rich amount of case law has considerably enlarged its scope of application. The reform of the passing off regime in 2017 was essentially based on case law. This reform consists of four main aspects: expansion of the scope of protectable commercial signs: clarification of the applicability of the passing off rule to registered and unregistered trademarks; the adjustment of fame as a qualifying condition of passing off; and the adoption of a general rule prohibiting confusion. This reform has not only consolidated the case law and approach developed by the courts, but also bestowed an open and flexible spirit in the passing off regime which will enhance its efficiency in the fight against unfair imitation. *PhD (University of Paris I – Pantheon Sorbonne), LLM (Renmin University of China), LLB (Shandong University), Director of the Innovation & Competition Law Center, Former Vice-President of the Trademark & Unfair Competition Committee of the IP Case Law Center (Beijing) of the Chinese Supreme People's Court, Vice President of the Beijing IP Judicial Protection Association, Expert Council Member of China Trademark Association, Co-Chair of American Society of International Law Intellectual Property Interest Group, Visiting Professor or Research Fellow (University of Milan, University of Toulouse I, University of Paris I, University of Paris XI, Max Plank Institute for Procedural Law and Strasbourg University CEIPI). The author is thankful to Miss Kristina DaCosta (LLM graduate of Tsinghua University), Miss Ling Zhang (PhD candidate of Tsinghua University) and Mr Yu Huang (LLM graduate of Tsinghua University) for their valuable assistance in this research. This research is part of the project 20BFX142 of the National Social Science Fund of China.

Influencer Marketing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Maatz
Keyword(s):  
Competition Law ◽  
Regulatory Framework ◽  
Unfair Competition ◽  
Unfair Competition Law ◽  
Modern Form

Influencers are omnipresent in various appearances in today's media landscape. Nevertheless, there is a lack of uniform handling of media and unfair competition law standards. In fact, divergences in decisions by regional and higher regional courts have led to uncertainties in answering the question of whether and how publications by influencers must comply with any advertising labelling obligations. The author takes this as an opportunity to clarify the key problem areas and, at the same time, to determine whether the existing legal regulatory framework is sufficient and capable of producing appropriate and interest-oriented results for a modern form of advertising such as influencer marketing.

Das Verhältnis zwischen Marken- und Lauterkeitsrecht beim Schutz von Unternehmenskennzeichen

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaotian Chai
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Hard Rock ◽  
Competition Law ◽  
Federal Court ◽  
Unfair Competition ◽  
Application Domain ◽  
Trademark Law ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Unfair Competition Law ◽  
Federal Court Of Justice

Company signs can be protected by trademark law and unfair competition law. However, can the two legal instruments be applied cumulatively? If the results obtained under the two laws conflict with each other, how can the conflict be resolved? The German Federal Court of Justice has confirmed the principle of cumulative application in the Hard-Rock-Café judgement in 2013. However, in this case, the result under unfair competition law was aligned with that under trademark law. This approach seems doubtful. This comparative study seeks to delimit the application domain of unfair competition law besides trademark law by protection of company signs and to find the appropriate approach by contradictory results.

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