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Unfair Competition and Business Tactics

Unfair business competition can take many forms. Some of the more common types of include deceptive advertising, violating covenant not to compete clauses, stealing trade secrets, and engaging in predatory pricing schemes.

False or Deceptive Advertising

False or deceptive advertising can take the form of competitors misrepresenting their products as yours, or making false claims about your product.Creating packaging that is remarkable similar to that of a competitor (called trade dress fraud) can constitutea deceptive act,too.

Trade Secrets

Also, unfair competition can occur when a key employee leaves and goes to a new company and shares a trade secret.In general, if a company steals a trade secret and uses it, the harmed business will be entitled to legal remedies.Also, when a business is sold, a very important element of the purchase is normally a covenant not to compete agreement signed by the owners.If the former owners engage in the same or similar business in violation of the terms of the agreement, this is considered an unfair business practice.

Predatory Pricing

Predatory pricing occurs when a competitor directly underprices one of your sale items, or engages in bait and switch tactics.An example of bait and switch is when a competitor offers an item for sale at a low introductory price, but thereafter inflates the price.

Remedies to Unfair Competition

Various legal remedies are available, depending upon the situation.Sometimes an injunction is needed to quickly stop the unfair actions.For instance, this happens in cases where there is an immediate need to stop a damaging action, or prevent the damaging action from occurring.Other remedies involve recovering monetarily for the harm that resulted from the unfair competitive behavior.

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