Unfair Competition

Unfair competition refers to a wide range of laws dealing with economic injury to a business due to the wrongful actions of a competitor. For example, a competitor using another business’s trademark for the purpose of deceiving customers would violate unfair competition laws. These wrongful acts include common law causes of action (e.g., disparagement), as well as state (e.g., the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act) and federal (e.g., the Lanham [Trademark] Act) regulations. This entry provides a brief overview of some of the different types of unfair competition claims.

Some of the most common unfair competition claims involve intellectual property. Intellectual property refers to the creations that flow from a person’s mind, such as an invention or a fictional novel. The law grants the creator rights ...