The Future of the Passing-off Action in the Law Against Unfair Competition-An Evaluation From a German Perspective

摘要

The action of passing off is said to be the most important common-law instrument in the fragmented system of protection against unfair competition in the United Kingdom. Although the scope of the passing-off action has been extended over the last decades and despite the implementation of specific statutory law against unfair commercial practices, such as the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 ("CPUT Regulations"), there is still commercial conduct that might be seen as unfair but which is neither covered by the passing-off action nor by any other common law tort or any statutory law yet. In contrast, other European countries take a stricter approach. Germany, with its long-standing tradition of unfair-competition legislation, might be the best example.