Comparative advertising and price

Inhaltsangabe:Abstract:With the coming into force of Directive 97/55/EC one of the issues that arose was as to how EU Member States will choose to implement the provisions concerning admissibility of comparative advertising. This dissertation will focus on the Directive’s transposition into English and German law with special regard to price comparisons each model of implementation being situated at the extreme end of the scale. English law having traditionally supported comparative advertising now has had to face a much stricter approach put forward by the Directive. We shall enquire into the extent to which in absence of an English law of unfair competition s.10(6) of the 1994 Trade Marks Act the torts of passing off and injurious falsehood and the British Code of Advertising provide for compliance in that sphere.German law on the other hand having long opposed comparative advertising has readily incorporated Directive 97/55 into §§2 and 3 of its 1909 Act Against Unfair Competition (UWG). German literature on the Act’s compliance with the Directive has been widespread and the respective analysis will thus be limited to assessing opinions of academics lawyers judges and members of the German government.I then compared those two models of implementation from the wider angle of the civil law/common law divide and general principles underlying Community law before finally making proposals for amendments and assessing the impact the Directive had on each national law system. Effectively German law has thus in my view provided for implementation to a fuller extent as well as being the Member State which has felt the Directive’s impact much more strongly than England.Inhaltsverzeichnis:Table of Contents:Introduction1Chapter 1.The Law of Comparative Advertising in England71.1Rejection of a Law of Unfair Competition91.2The Law of Comparative Advertising111.3Implementation of Directive 97/55/EC14Chapter 2.The Law of Comparative Advertising