Unfair competition and the system of measures to protect against it (page 1 of 2)

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Published: 05/22/2020

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In modern economic conditions, the market contains a large number of offers in relation to goods, services, and work that can be performed by various business entities. In order for the potential consumer of the services of such entities to have a fairly wide choice, a competition mechanism is used. However, in some cases, the Federal Antimonopoly Service records cases of unfair competition.

The concept of unfair competition Unfair competition in the form of discredit
Misrepresentation
Incorrect comparison
Unfair competition related to intellectual activity
Use of information constituting a commercial or other secret

Signs of unfair competition

Administrative responsibility

Criminal liability

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The concept of unfair competition

Unfair competition currently refers to such actions or inactions of a certain circle of business entities or specific organizations that violate established moral, ethical and economic norms in order to improve their economic situation. The result of such actions or inaction is the displacement of other organizations from the market and a reduction in the number of existing offers.

In the Federal Law “On the Protection of Competition” No. 135-FZ of July 26, 2006, a separate chapter is devoted to forms of unfair competition that can be used on the territory of the Russian Federation by domestic and foreign organizations.

Within the framework of the same chapter of this regulatory act, it is said that the use of various methods of unfair competition to improve their position by certain business entities is inadmissible.

Unfair competition in the form of discredit

An explanation of this form of unfair competition is contained in Article 14.1 of the above Federal Law.

In this case, discredit is expressed in the form of dissemination of distorted, inaccurate or false information that can damage both the economic situation and business reputation of a particular economic entity.

The dissemination of such information most often concerns:

the conditions under which a particular product is sold or offered for sale , for example, regarding the price of the product (information may be disseminated that the price of a product or service has been formed unlawfully or has been reduced due to the poor quality of such a product);
quality of goods or services , as well as consumer properties of the goods offered for purchase;
methods of manufacturing goods , as well as the conditions under which the supplied goods are manufactured;
the results expected by a potential consumer from purchasing a particular product , as well as the ability to use a particular product to achieve certain goals;
the quantity of goods that another competing organization may offer for purchase , as well as the possibilities for purchasing such goods, including with certain conditions for such acquisition;
actual demand for a particular product.

Misrepresentation

Misrepresentation is also considered in the said Federal Law, in Article 14.2. This is another method that is aimed at obtaining a better financial and economic result by one business entity compared to other such entities.

In this case, the information disseminated is not intended to present the services, goods or work of other participants in a certain sector of the market in an unfavorable light, but to improve the product offered for purchase in the eyes of a potential consumer.

Such information that improves the quality characteristics of goods or works and services is most often disseminated in relation to:

qualities of the product and its consumer properties , as well as in relation to the purpose of the product (for example, by expanding the possibilities of use);
methods and conditions in which a particular product is produced , as well as preparation for the provision of services or performance of work;
the quantity of goods that can be purchased , its range, as well as the volume of services or work that can be performed by a potential executor of concluded agreements;
warranty obligations regarding the goods, works or services produced (for example, by means of statements about an extended warranty period, while such periods are not observed);
conditions for the offer of goods or services and works for purchase (for example, in terms of indicating a price lower than what the purchaser will actually have to pay).

Incorrect comparison

Article 14.3 of the said Federal Law prohibits any form of comparison that may be regarded as incorrect. In accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of this article, such cases of comparison include:

comparison made with other participants in economic and financial activities , if such a comparison is made using words that create the impression among a potential consumer that the product, service or work offered to him is significantly better than that of competitors;
the comparison is carried out without specifying specific parameters, as well as the characteristics of the product or service offered for purchase , which will not allow for a true qualitative comparison with similar products or services from other market participants;
a comparison in which, using words aimed at creating the impression of the best offer on the market to the consumer, not only has no basis in practical confirmation, but also represents false statements or distorted and inaccurate, which can be proven when making an actual comparison.

Unfair competition related to intellectual activity

These types of unfair competition are most often associated with the use or assignment of the right to the means of individualization of another legal entity (for example, the acquisition and registration of a trademark indicating the name of a product that is to be sold on the territory of the Russian Federation, while under a dealership agreement it is possible only to sell the goods, but it is prohibited to register a trademark for yourself).

Another variant of unfair competition is the sale of a product or its introduction into circulation, if in this way the rights of other persons who have exclusive rights to the results of intellectual activity are violated.

Another option for the manifestation of this type of unfair competition is the implementation of actions or inactions of an organization participating in the market, as a result of which cases arise of the use of its designation of a legal entity created as identical to the designation of another legal entity. The result of such actions or inactions is the difficulty of identifying legal entities participating in one market sector. This type of competition is called mixing.

Another manifestation of it may be copying the appearance or general imitation of a product that is being put into circulation, or the packaging of a product, its labels, names and other identification data.

All of these types of competition and its possible directions are discussed in Articles 14.4-14.6 of the Federal Law.

Use of information constituting a commercial or other secret

Some market participants engage in business activities using information containing a trade secret or some other type of secret, which is also protected by law. Such cases include:

obtaining information that constitutes a trade secret, if this information belongs to another organization participating in economic activity on the market, and the owner did not give consent to the dissemination of such information;
violation of the terms of the contract regarding the use of information by a person to whom information constituting a trade secret was transferred for use . A violation may be expressed in the dissemination of information provided for use;
dissemination of information constituting a trade secret, if such information was received by a competing market participant in violation of the terms of an agreement on non-disclosure of such secrets . Such an action can be considered a fact of unfair competition if the specified information was received from an official who had access to such information due to the performance of the duties assigned to him according to his job description.

Fair and unfair competition. A question of self-respect. Business like “Greetings from the 90s”

I decided to write about the unpleasant - the issue of fair and dishonest competition, post-Soviet redneckness and self-respect (the lack of it for some). Please forgive me for being harsh.

Lately, strange behavior has become widespread here: some masters, instead of promoting their works, monitoring competitors in order to improve their work and improve service, they quietly complain about similar works of colleagues with similar descriptions to the site administration for violations, while having themselves similar jobs with a similar description and exactly the same “violations” and, probably, after that they consider themselves very smart and wonderful. I guess this is done to be the only one with a similar offer as a result of the request? And so that everyone would immediately run to you to place orders? A kind of kitchen monopoly, you know! . I am already silent about such phenomena as crude copying of other people's original works, advertising letters to other people's customers and throwing mud at my colleagues. By the way, a separate misunderstanding is caused by the other extreme - masters who are not happy that they are subscribed to, because... you see they don’t buy anything. Where did the master get the idea that since a person has signed up, he is definitely obliged to buy? How can a large number of subscribers (potential buyers) be a burden? Now they won’t buy, then maybe they will, and if they don’t buy, then you still don’t lose anything, they don’t force anything on you, they don’t send you spam and they don’t force you to sign up for each other. This is some really stupid outrage.

It’s extremely unpleasant to write about this, because... I would like to believe that the redneck psychology of doing business remained far in the 90s, but it turns out that it has firmly strengthened and taken root. And from whom - but from creative (!) people of fine spiritual organization, engines of culture and aesthetics, who live at the Masters Fair, it is simply wild to see such behavior.

What is fair competition? — This is the desire to develop, to make your product better than that of competitors. AWWW! Develop yourself and your creativity! Self-affirmation at the expense of others should remain in kindergarten. We have stepped into the 21st century, the dashing 90s are far in the past, the time has come to stop playing dirty tricks on your competitors, who are driving down your prices and spitting on your quality, breaking old and barren raspberry bushes! Honest business means showing in practice that your work is better. Visually demonstrate your advantages to potential buyers! Move forward, and not meanly “under the fence” interfere with the work of others, you will no longer have sales from this, it is very stupid to think so.

Your delicate natures like to be like the bazaar speculators, insolent and obese from 1000% over-selling on rotten tomatoes or Chinese disposable leggings, who, swearing obscenely, turn over competitors' trays with tastier and cheaper tomatoes or good-quality leggings with their thick, dirty paws. Gentlemen, we are not hucksters, we are civilized and decent people! It’s somehow not artistic, and it’s minus 100,500 to your precious karma. If in some courses you were taught to conduct business in such an unseemly manner, you were shamelessly lied to!

It’s a shame that in Mother Rus', after the fall of the USSR, all the dirt crawled out of the dark crevices and, unfortunately, the bad thing happened: snatch it and run away; engage not in developing one’s own, but in playing dirty tricks on others; taking away someone else's property; work the minimum, get the maximum and not be responsible for anything; inflate and advertise your name to the fullest, project importance and authority into what is often an empty place, essentially without caring about the quality of your product; desire for 1000% profit from scratch. The love of freebies and ostentation flourishes everywhere and in everything. As it is said in one wonderful film: “The land of facades. And those, frankly, are bad.” I appeal to you, fellow scoundrels! Are you already, I hope, proud of your remarkable intelligence and ingenuity? Why dishonor your Motherland and yourself personally like that? Such people are not loved or expected anywhere. People like you in all countries create an opinion about all our compatriots. Or does someone think that if you shit on the sly, no one will know about it? Believe me, when the hair on your head is styled, your face is powdered, your lips are made up, your eyes are lined, and you know what your butt is - you can see it from a kilometer away! How much have you made by complaining about others? Have you poached many clients? Has the quality of your work improved much? Has your customer feedback improved since then? Have you managed to keep your prices or monopolize the direction? Who did you scare and who did you harm? And most importantly, did you do better for yourself? Have you already received urgent orders? There is an opinion that all people belong to 4 types, depending on the benefit and harm that their actions bring to themselves and others: Fool : his actions bring harm to both himself and others. Simpleton : a person whose actions bring harm to himself and benefit others. Bandit : His actions benefit him and harm others. Smart : His actions benefit both himself and others. Do you seriously consider yourself to be in the fourth category?! (And you don’t even reach the third level))))

Ladies and Gentlemen, DON'T DO THIS! This is sooo bad and ugly! Truly, your clients will not go to anyone, just as strangers will not come to you, even if you are left here alone. Do quality work, charge honest and fair wages. If your work is expensive, it must be of the highest quality and the buyer must be sure of this. This is an important part of your job - to convince your customer that your quality is the best, and not interfere with others' work. Take care of yourself, your product, your creativity, defeat competitors with quality, not meanness.

DEAR CREATORS AND SELLERS, REMEMBER:

I decided to write an addition to all of the above for those who mistakenly believe that there are no orders because of these nosy competitors.

Consider the following before engaging in mindless sabotage:

1) You don’t have any views, but your colleagues do. Maybe no one sees your work because you don’t do anything for it? Take good photos and a detailed description. Try to repost on some social networks at least once a day. Choose keywords. Read about optimization, etc. A rolling stone gathers no moss.

2) You do everything right, but still no views. Maybe you are sitting with zero reviews, zero subscribers and a free account and waiting by the sea for the weather? There will be no weather, everyone has already checked it many times. Fork out at least for the cheapest paid account, I assure you, it will help, subject to other active actions. Expecting a good result without investing anything is stupid. 3) You have 1 job in a store and that one is for example, and you are waiting for a flow of customers. Post at least 5 more similar works in different versions as different products. Buyers love it when they have at least some choice. This inspires confidence.

4) Don’t be lazy, at least sometimes write entries on your personal blog and share them on social networks. Even if you have nothing to share, organize a promotion in honor of something or just give gifts, make discounts and write about it. Gifts are very pleasant to receive and give. You need to be able not only to take, but also to give with joy.

5) You don’t know how to find clients. Look for information on the Internet and think for yourself. Don’t be intrusive, don’t pester people, don’t look at your colleagues’ reviews, find active buyers and write advertising letters. I don’t see anything criminal or dishonest about visiting people with a huge number of subscribers and adding their subscribers to your circle - it’s you who subscribe to them, not they to you, but sending them newsletters and offers, imposing yourself is at least it’s ugly, those who are interested will subscribe to you themselves. Spam is annoying and only repels. 6) There are plenty of similar works like yours and no one looks at yours - do not rush to complain about those who are at the top of the lists in order to be left alone - these are fantasies. Be original, don't copy someone else's, do your own thing and do your job perfectly. A good description and good photos are important. Originality and high quality are even more important. 7) I ask you to pay special attention to jewelry makers who think that someone is to blame for the lack of your sales and that someone very cunning and resourceful is stealing your customers. It’s impossible to think of anything more crazy than this! Look around! Only the lazy don’t make decorations these days! This area of “handmade” is put on the assembly line. You will not earn a million from this, you were shamelessly deceived during the courses! How does your jewelry differ from others (including store-bought ones), for example, braided cabochons, stones on a cord, embroidered nets, corals, milenfarmers and pandoras with swarovsimi? What is special about them, what makes them stand out? If nothing but high prices, ambitions and the desire to earn a million, then See point 6. If you really do extraordinary original things, then See points 1 to 5!

If you still think that anyone other than you is to blame for your failures: competitors, charlotans, speculators and others (esotericists, vintage artists, for example), then visit a psychotherapist’s office, take appropriate training, try standing on your head (possibly with admission blood into the brain, you will sometimes begin to think and even see the obvious) or simply start doing something different and differently.

Remember: to have everything and do nothing for it - this does not happen, especially on such a popular resource. You can't even catch a fish out of a pond without effort!

PPS Colleagues, without false modesty I will say that I make wonderful jewelry, original, high-quality and labor-intensive things from expensive materials, I put my soul into them, without thinking about a million, I do it because I love doing it. But I only make them to order, precisely because of the oversupply in this direction. They buy them very poorly at YaM, not because of their more resourceful colleagues, and no one is luring away my customers, this is impossible to do. This is due to the fact that one-off, expensive and original things are not pies in a canteen or sparkles in a jewelry boutique; no one will buy them en masse, either today or tomorrow. This is art and creativity, it is for some, not for everyone, it is the opposite of such definitions as “earnings”, “business”, “flow”. Anyone who claims the opposite is blatantly lying, which means he needs you to buy a master class, course, etc. from him. in the style of “Handicraft is business.” These dream sellers take pleasure in creating their handicraft masterpieces and do not deny themselves anything, selling simpletons the hope of making money on costume jewelry. They fully pay for their hobby not by selling their works, but by “breeding” housewives and young craftswomen. There are other important factors, but again they have nothing to do with sellers and craftsmen from other sections. Think about it, if you need a painted teapot, who will force you to buy a copper ashtray instead? And if you need a necklace in the “coral” style for your dress, then you will have a huge selection of these almost identical “corals” and you will choose the best option for this jewelry. Who will be to blame if you bought it from master X and did not buy it from masters Y, Z and Q? Think about whether it would be possible to take you away from Master X and force you to buy instead, for example, a rosary made of coral?

Signs of unfair competition

In order to recognize unfair competition, you should know its certain signs, which include:

the implementation of actions by an organization operating in a specific market sector aimed at creating the most disadvantageous position for other market participants . If a competing organization does not carry out any such actions, then it is impossible to say that it is illegally ruining a competitor;
carrying out any activities that are aimed at obtaining certain benefits . In this case, actions can be both ordered and chaotic. This does not change the main goal - obtaining advantages, which may be unjustified;
carrying out any activities, the analysis of which shows that there is a clear violation of legal norms , moral norms, as well as established business customs;
a competing organization that has been subject to illegal competition actions suffers real losses , expressed in lost profits and increased costs of carrying out its activities, or the reputation of the organization has been damaged, which has made it impossible to conclude an agreement with one of its clients;
the reputation of the company, which is its intangible asset that allows it to extract a certain amount of profit, is damaged . Damage to reputation can be regarded as a sign of unfair competition if, as a result, the amount of profit that the organization receives, as well as the volume of concluded agreements and contracts, has decreased, and existing partners refuse to cooperate.

Principles and methods of fair competition among commodity producers

In order to take a deeper look at the essence of fair competition and understand how it differs from the unfair struggle of commodity producers for markets and consumers, we should take a closer look at its basic principles, which flow smoothly from the properties we discussed above.

So, the main methods used by companies to attract consumer attention as part of a fair market struggle are:

the use of fundamentally new production elements that ensure the highest quality of the product produced or service provided;
providing customers with quality guarantees for the product;
offering customers various additional services;
carrying out various manipulations in selling prices for goods and services in order to popularize them in sales regions (primarily we are talking about discounts);
development and active use of various types of marketing strategies aimed at attracting consumer attention, etc.

Thus, all the many methods of fair competition ultimately come down to the use of scientific and technological progress, improving the quality of goods (services) and developing market new products, developing pre-sale and post-sale service systems, actively conducting advertising campaigns and waging price wars . Marketing and its components play a fundamental role.

The main “working tool” of fair competition is the basic marketing mix and its expanded variations. A special role among its elements is played by the price complex. Despite the fact that an individual commodity producer cannot set a price higher than the market price (since buyers can purchase the same product from competitors), he can actively reduce the price by providing a system of discounts and installment plans or by reducing the cost of production and sales.

It is these methods and principles that make it possible to distinguish fair competition from unfair competition. All of them, without exception, do not contradict either the norms of law or the letter of the law. The key principle of fair competition is to directly ensure the highest quality of commercial products, which, in turn, can be achieved through the use of high-quality raw materials, improvement of production technologies, etc.

Administrative responsibility

The main powers to impose administrative penalties are based on the provisions of Article 14.33 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. In accordance with the provisions of this article:

if we are talking about manifestations of unfair competition, but no criminal element was recorded in such an offense, then the punishment will be expressed in the amount of an administrative fine . Penalties in the amount of twelve to twenty thousand rubles are imposed on officials, and in relation to legal entities the amount of sanctions increases from one hundred to five hundred thousand rubles;
if goods were introduced into circulation in the creation of which the results of intellectual activity were illegally used, as well as equivalent means of individualization formed for another legal entity or products or works and services, then the amount of sanctions changes . A fine in the amount of twenty thousand rubles is imposed on officials or disqualification is carried out for a period not exceeding three years. Legal entities are subject to a fine in the amount of one to fifteen hundredths of the revenue of the legal entity that violated the law. In monetary terms, the minimum fine is one hundred thousand rubles.

Private detective services

By contacting a private detective agency, you have the opportunity to receive complete information regarding possible manifestations of unfair competition. Government law enforcement agencies act upon the fact of a crime, that is, when your company has already been harmed. The Detective Bureau of Boris Turetsky acts preventively, that is, it allows us to ensure a situation in which all plans on the part of an unscrupulous competitor collapse. A thorough investigation will be aimed at studying the market situation in a specific segment, checking the activities of your competitors and partners, as well as checking your company’s employees.