Also known as: unfairly competitive · unfairly competing · unfair trade practices
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Conduct involving dishonest or fraudulent rivalry in trade and commerce. The doctrine encompasses torts such as passing off goods as those of another, false advertising, misappropriation, and deceptive practices that harm competitors or consumers.
Unity Capital sues Upstream Petroleum after the latter copies its proprietary energy reports and markets them as its own. Unity Capital asserts both a federal copyright claim and a state unfair competition claim arising from the identical copying and sales. The federal court accepts jurisdiction over the unfair competition claim because it shares the same facts as the copyright action.
Uptown Apparel publishes ads claiming its rival Union Steel's garments contain toxic dyes. Union Steel loses customers who believe the false claims. Union Steel sues under the Lanham Act for unfair competition, alleging injury to its commercial reputation and sales.
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Uriel Urban develops a secret drilling process at Upstream Petroleum. After leaving, Uriel shares the process with a competitor. Upstream Petroleum sues for unfair competition based on misappropriation even though no patent protects the process.
Uliana Ustinova, a solo practitioner, runs price advertisements that a state bar deems misleading. The bar disciplines her to prevent unfair competition among attorneys. Uliana challenges the restriction as overbroad.
Union Steel manufactures a distinctive lamp base that is not patented. A competitor sells identical bases. Union Steel sues under state unfair competition law to stop the copying, but the claim fails because federal patent law places the design in the public domain.
Unity Capital operates a subscription database. Uriel Urban deploys bots to scrape listings and republish them on a rival site. Unity Capital sues for unfair competition, alleging the automated access harms its goodwill and user base.
A federal court may exercise supplemental jurisdiction over a state unfair competition claim when it arises from the same facts as a substantial federal intellectual property claim such as copyright infringement. The claims must form part of the same case or controversy.
No. Liability can rest on conduct that creates a likelihood of confusion even without proof of deceptive intent. The focus is on whether the practices harm competitors or mislead consumers.
No. Federal patent law places unpatented designs in the public domain, and state unfair competition claims that effectively grant patent-like protection are preempted.
Courts may award damages or issue injunctions. An injunction is available without first exhausting damages when ongoing harm is difficult to quantify and the balance of equities favors relief.
…trademarks were protected at common law and in equity at the time of the founding of our country. 3 J. McCarthy, Trademarks and Unfair Competition §19:8 (4th ed. 2017) (hereinafter McCarthy); 1 id. , §§5:1, 5:2, 5:3; Pattishal, The Constitutional Foundations of American Trademark Law, 78 Trademark Rep. 456, 457–458 (1988);…