DESCRIPTION OF THE LEGAL REGIME OF UNFAIR COMPETITION IN FRANCE (Nacrt pravneho rezimu nekalej sutaze vo Francuzsku)

The legal regime of unfair competition on French law is predominantly created by the case law; the legislator intervened later and only in the case of certain partial issues. For adoption and development of sanctions for unfair competition, the case law has chosen the institute of indemnification. It is reflected in the need for the claimant to prove that the unfair competition conduct created a situation that fulfils all conditions for the rise of liability for damage, although the case law has later limited the scope of the condition to prove the damage. Although the explicit classification of the practice under assessment to one of main types of unfair competition conducts is not an obligation, the specification of the conduct under assessment, whether by deciding courts or by the case law, allowed to define four main types of unfair competition conducts, as they are perceived in French law: defamation, confusion, disorganization of business and parasitizing. As the case law included unfair competition issues under the institute of indemnification, the sanction for potential unfair competition conduct could only be the obligation of the violator to compensate for the damage caused; the legislator however has not extended the range of potential sanctions to the preliminary ruling prohibiting unfair competition conducts and publication of the guilty verdict.