Anti-unfair competition is the need of socialist market economy. Competition is the basic mechanism of market economy, and each market subject realizes its own economic goals through competition. Competition is equal and free for every market subject. However, market players should not abuse the right of equal and free competition and carry out unfair competition that infringes on the interests of others. All kinds of unfair competition in real life have seriously damaged the normal operation mechanism of the market economy and are not conducive to the establishment and development of the socialist market economic system. Therefore, the market economy needs a set of rules to maintain fair competition and stop unfair competition. The socialist market economy is a legal economy, an orderly economy, and an economy regulated and guaranteed by law. The Anti-Unfair Competition Law was enacted to "ensure the healthy development of the socialist market economy".
The need to protect the legitimate rights and interests of operators and consumers Operators are market subjects, legal persons, other economic organizations and individuals engaged in commodity management or profit-making services. It is normal for them to survive the fittest in the market competition. Generally speaking, it is determined by the market subject's own reasons, only through market inspection. However, there is no denying the influence of external conditions on the survival and development of operators. One of the characteristics of unfair competition is to seize the market and seek illegal interests by harming the interests of other operators, that is, competitors. This kind of unfair competition that tries to reverse the survival of the fittest from the outside not only directly infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of operators. And in most cases, it also damages the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. In order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of operators and consumers, it is necessary to formulate an anti-unfair competition law.
The need to ensure the smooth development of opening to the outside world With the establishment of the socialist market economic system, China's opening to the outside world will be further expanded, especially the date of joining the World Trade Organization is approaching, which requires that China's socialist market economic operation system should be in line with international practices. Under the condition of open market economy, unfair competition not only infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of domestic operators, but also infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of foreign operators. China has now joined many international treaties on economic trade and intellectual property protection, and as a member of the treaties, it is obliged to stop unfair competition through legislation. The formulation and implementation of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law meets the needs of international trends.
Cheating in market transactions.
Deceptive trading behavior refers to the behavior of business operators in economic activities, by means of counterfeiting, imitation, falsehood, etc., to make others make mistakes in understanding, and to trade with them on the basis of such mistakes. "Counterfeiting" refers to deliberately and thoroughly copying the names of other people's goods or enterprises, and has no intention of legally trading with their own goods or names. "Imitation" refers to the act of using the same or similar name, packaging, decoration or trademark as another enterprise or commodity. "Fake" refers to the representation that the quality and origin of goods are inconsistent with reality. Article 5 of China's Anti-Unfair Competition Law stipulates that business operators shall not engage in market transactions by the following unfair means, thus harming competitors:
(a) counterfeiting the registered trademark of others; (2) Using the unique name, packaging and decoration of a well-known commodity without authorization, or using the name, packaging and decoration similar to that of a well-known commodity, causing confusion with other people's well-known trademarks, so that the buyer mistakenly thinks it is the well-known commodity; (three) unauthorized use of another person's enterprise name or font size, so that people mistakenly believe that it is another person's goods; (4) Forging or fraudulently using quality marks such as certification marks and brand-name marks on commodities, forging the place of origin, and making misleading false propaganda on the quality of commodities are all fraudulent transactions.
The act of counterfeiting another person's registered trademark.
According to the provisions of the Trademark Law, using the same or similar trademarks on the same kind of goods or similar goods without the permission of the registered trademark owner is counterfeiting the registered trademark of others and the trademark of the registered trademark owner, making others mistakenly think that the goods of counterfeiters are registered goods of others and buying them, which will inevitably affect the sales of operators who enjoy the exclusive right to use registered trademarks, thus forming two unfair competition behaviors. Article 5 of China's Anti-Unfair Competition Law stipulates: "Operators shall not engage in market transactions by the following improper means, which will damage competitors: ① counterfeiting registered trademarks of others; (2) Using the unique name, packaging and decoration of a well-known commodity without authorization, or using the name, packaging and decoration similar to that of a well-known commodity, resulting in confusion with other people's well-known commodities, so that the buyer mistakenly thinks it is the well-known commodity; (three) unauthorized use of another person's enterprise name or font size, so that people mistakenly believe that it is another person's goods; Forging or fraudulently using quality marks such as certification marks and brand-name marks on commodities, forging the place of origin, and making misleading false representations about the quality of commodities. "
In any case, no matter whether the operator actually harms the interests of competitors after implementing the act, it can be prohibited according to this article. The Anti-Unfair Competition Law also stipulates that operators who counterfeit registered trademarks of others shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the Trademark Law of People's Republic of China (PRC).
Forgery or fraudulent use of quality marks
According to Article 14 of the Product Quality Law of People's Republic of China (PRC), it is forbidden to forge or fraudulently use quality marks such as certification marks and brand-name marks, and it is forbidden to forge the origin of products. Certification mark refers to the behavior that product providers provide their products to institutions recognized by state administrative organs or state authoritative organs with powers or functions, and through certain legal procedures, test and identify the products provided by the parties, proving that the products, processes and services fully meet the prescribed standards or technical specifications, and take certificates or marks as proof. Certification mark is an evaluation of product quality. On the one hand, this evaluation is an affirmation of enterprise labor. But the most important thing is to bring credibility to enterprises' products and deliver reliable information to users and consumers. Generally speaking, the certified products are very competitive in the international and domestic markets. In view of the information function of the certification mark, competitors forge or fraudulently use the certification mark, which leads to misunderstanding of products with the certification mark in market transactions, thus deceiving consumers. This misleading is a false statement realized by forgery. It is certainly an unfair competition to pass inferior products off as high-quality products and unqualified products off as qualified products in order to harm competitors' interests and gain illegitimate interests in market transactions.
A famous brand mark is a mark that proves that its products meet the standards set by the government. Brand logo has the honor of product, which is awarded by the government, so it can attract consumers to buy products with its high-quality logo. For example, forging or using brand-name marks without obtaining the brand-name marks granted by the state is a denial of government authorization on the one hand, and confuses products with brand-name marks with counterfeiting on the other hand. Confusion is a means to deceive consumers and gain illegal benefits. This kind of behavior certainly constitutes unfair competition and violates the provisions of Article 19 of the Product Quality Law.
The so-called forgery or fraudulent use of certification marks, brand-name marks and other quality marks refers to the illegal production of product quality certification marks, high-quality product marks, international honor marks, production license marks and other quality marks, or the use of corresponding quality marks without obtaining certification, high-quality products, international awards, production licenses and so on. , are deceptive behavior. The so-called forged place of origin refers to the deception of the place name marked B when producing in a place.
Behavioral manifestations of false propaganda
Article 9 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law stipulates that an operator shall not make misleading false propaganda on the quality, composition, performance, use, producer, expiration date and place of origin of goods by advertising or other methods, and an advertising operator shall not act as an agent, design, produce or publish false advertisements that he knows or should know.
The so-called advertisement is to vividly introduce the quality, production ingredients, performance, use, manufacturer, expiration date and place of origin of goods through newspapers, radio, television and other news media. In a positive sense, it can spread the relevant knowledge of commodities and transmit market information, thus guiding consumption, expanding circulation, facilitating consumers' lives and promoting the development of domestic and international economy and trade. However, false advertising is a form of advertising that unfairly damages or improves the competitive position of competitors. False advertising violates honest and trustworthy business practices and recognized business ethics, which is the most harmful unfair competition. In recent years, the illegal acts of cheating by advertising have been repeatedly banned, and some of them have reached the point where the country and the people have been harmed and become a major public hazard. According to the statistics of China Consumers Association, false advertisements account for about 4% of all customer complaints. If operators make false propaganda through advertisements or other means, customers and consumers will go into a misunderstanding, and the use value of shopping demand will not be well realized. One of the most basic rules of market economy, the supply and demand rules are blocked, the market operation order is chaotic, and consumers' right to know the real situation of buying, using goods or receiving services is infringed. The quality, composition, performance, use, producer, expiration date and place of origin mentioned in Article 9 of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law are all contents contained in advertisements, and advertisements can publicize the information of commodities through these contents. If the content is untrue, the information of the goods is false, and consumers will misunderstand the goods after getting false information. The composition, performance and use of commodities can represent the basic characteristics of commodities. Generally speaking, advertisements should convey these characteristics to the audience as real information of commodities, but advertisements with untrue contents greatly beautify these characteristics, and the beautified commodities are especially favored by consumers. The producer and place of origin of goods are related to the source of goods, which is also an indispensable part of advertising, and it can affect consumers' willingness to choose goods. If advertisements deceive the source of commodities, consumers may regard inferior commodities as well-known commodities because of misleading advertising, which is of course an unfair competition. At present, China has an advertising law to regulate advertising behavior, but it is still necessary to classify the propaganda of false advertisements as unfair competition.