By the Cabinet decision of October 9, 2015, the Partial Amendment of the Unfair Competition Prevention Act, which was enacted on July 3, 2015, will come into force on January 1, 2016. However, the amendment to extend the statute of limitations relating to bringing injunction claims against an unauthorized use of trade secrets to 20 years is already in force.
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Monthly Archives: December 2015
Competition fines SFR, SRR for unfair off-net call prices
France’s Competition Authority has imposed a EUR 10.7 million fine on mobile operator SFR and its Reunion subsidiary, SRR, for unfair competition in the enterprise market. The antitrust regulator found that there was too large a difference between prices charged for on-net and off-net calls. This pricing behaviour took place for 12 years in Reunion and for 6 years in Mayotte. The decision follows a EUR 46 million fine set in June 2014 for the same practice in the consumer market.
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Germany expands commercial bribery
On November 26, 2015, Germany’s new law combatting commercial corruption came into force. The law amends the provision on commercial bribery in the German Criminal Code.
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Comparative advertising gets green light
At the beginning of 2015, the Ministry of Customs and Trade issued the Commercial Advertisements and Unfair Commercial Practices Regulation, which annulled and replaced the outdated 2003 regulation. The new regulation has removed the ban on comparative advertising and includes a provision which allows the use of the goods, trademarks, trade names and services of competitors in ads. The provision will enter into force on January 10 2016 and may result in legal disputes between competitors.