Unfair competition in the beauty industry.

Unfair competition is defined as an action that is contrary to the law or good practice if it threatens or infringes on the interests of another entrepreneur or customer. In particular, misleading company names, breach of trade secrets and product imitation are distinguished. It is impossible to list them all exhaustively, which allows for some flexibility in referring to them in court proceedings. Moreover, such a broad definition allows the concept of unfair competition to remain relevant despite ongoing economic and technological development.

The courts accept that it is good practice ‘not to impersonate a competitor's company and reputation, and not to exploit the achievements of others in promoting a new product in order to gain recognition among consumers for one's own, similar product without making any effort or financial outlay to that end’ (judgment of the Court of Appeal in Warsaw of 2 June 2015, I ACa 1744/14). An example of such a situation in the beauty industry would be exploiting someone else's market position by creating packaging for a face cream that closely resembles a competitor's cream that enjoys a good reputation among customers.

However, it sometimes happens that so-called lookalike products appear on the market in the beauty industry, the sale of which raises doubts as to whether this is a legitimate activity.

If you want to know how their legal situation differs from products whose marketing should be considered unfair competition, we invite you to a webinar entitled "The law on combating unfair competition in the protection of distinctive signs and trade secrets. Counterfeit products and so-called lookalikes – where does the infringement occur and how to combat it?