Unfair competition is generally understood as any act of competition that is contrary to honest practices in industrial or commercial matters.

A dishonest practice is not something that can be defined with precision. The standard of fairness or honesty may change from country to country, as well as evolve with time. It is, therefore, difficult to attempt to encompass all existing acts of unfair competition in one definition. On the other hand, the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property specifies that the following acts and practices are incompatible with the notion of fairness in competition:

- Acts, which may create confusion by any means with the establishment, the goods or the industrial or commercial activities of a competitor (e.g. using a trademark identical or similar to another with respect to goods of the same category);
- Acts that constitute false allegations of such nature as to discredit or disparage the establishment, the goods, or the industrial or commercial activities, of a competitor (e.g. an enterprise attacking a competitor through statements that are false and untrue with relation to the latter’s goods or services);
- Indications or allegations which may mislead the public as to the nature, the manufacturing process, the characteristics, the suitability for their purpose, or the quantity of the goods (e.g. a company publishing false and untrue statements concerning the quality or safety of its own products in connection with promotion or sales advertising). Unfair competition cannot be confined only to the 3 categories described above. There is broad agreement that this concept should also apply to the following:

• Acts consisting in the disclosure or use by others of secret or
• Confidential information without proper consent of the rightful holder of the information, in a manner contrary to honest commercial practices (e.g. acts tending to appropriate another’s secret information, such as a method of manufacturing a product, through industrial or commercial espionage);
• Acts or practices that, in the course of industrial or commercial activities, damage the goodwill or reputation of another’s enterprise, regardless of the fact whether such acts cause confusion or not (e.g. the fact of using a well-known trademark, say Cadillac, by someone other than its owner, for entirely different products, such as watches.

This may result in the dilution of the well-known trademark that is the lessening of its distinctive character or of its advertising value. Furthermore, in this case, the user obtains an unfair advantage over his competitors, who do not own the well-known trademark, which is likely to favor the sale of his own product.).

Relationship between unfair competition and intellectual property laws

In many countries, unfair competition laws supplement intellectual property laws. To illustrate with an example, let us consider the situation where a trademark (A) has been used in association with certain goods. If a third party uses the same trademark or another similar mark (B) with the same category of goods, in a way that it is likely to cause confusion with (A), then the user of trademark (A) would justifiably have reason to complain and a legal basis to sue in order to stop the harmful activities. Two situations may then arise:

• If the owner of trademark (A) has registered his trade mark beforehand, he or she will be entitled to bring action before the courts on the basis of trademark violation or infringement;
• If the owner of trademark (A) has not yet registered the trademark, he or she may bring action on the basis of unfair competition.

However, the prerequisites to proceed with one or the other lawsuits are not identical. It may be easier to succeed with an action based on infringement of an intellectual property law, than with an action based on unfair competition. It is, therefore, advisable to register your rights (on trademarks, industrial designs, geographical indications, etc.) whenever national laws or international treaties allow for such a possibility, instead of relying solely on unfair competition, as a means to put an end to a dishonest behavior of a competitor that may harm your business.