Law(s) against unfair competition: the legitimacy of the UK approach

The UK lacks a unified legal basis for the prevention of unfair competition. Instead, the UK offers up an unfair competition menu consisting of individual torts or equitable wrongs (primarily passing off, injurious falsehood, defamation and the breach of confidence), the prohibition of misleading practices under consumer protection law, trade mark law and codes of advertising regulation.In terms of their cumulative coverage, these regimes overlap considerably with the protection available under civilian unfair competition regimes. It is therefore more accurate to say that the UK has laws against unfair competition. But are they cumulatively sufficient?This article evaluates one important facet of this question—whether the UK approach complies with relevant international treaty obligations contained in Article10bis of the Paris Convention—concluding that it does. The basis for this conclusion is the detailed analysis of international unfair competition prevention obligations contained in WTO Dispute Settlement Panel Report, Australia—Tobacco Plain Packaging.