Unfair Competition | Violations of Competition Law

Cases involving breaches of the German Act Against Unfair Competition (UWG) are part of everyday business for many law firms and companies. Businesses are confronted with defamation, disparagement and aggressive advertising by competitors.

 

If you wish to identify the originators of reputational damage against your company or require evidence admissible in court of competition law violations by competitors, the IHK-certified economic investigators at Kurtz Detective Agency Rostock and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania will be pleased to take on your case: +49 381 3739 0080.

False Allegations and Poaching of Staff

In some cases, unfair competition by a rival is obvious and easy to prove, for example when a competitor claims in a promotional brochure that their product is superior to a competing item produced by your company (as was the case when the fast food giant Burger King was prohibited from claiming in its advertising that one of its burgers was better than the “Big Mac” by McDonald's). Other untrue public statements about you, your business or your products will likewise generally be straightforward to substantiate. The situation is different when it comes to the systematic poaching of staff or customers – this too constitutes an offence within the meaning of the UWG. Denunciation is also among the methods competitors use to make life difficult for you. Suddenly, you find yourself facing supervisory authorities because a competitor has reported false allegations about you, your activities or the quality of your goods to the relevant bodies.

 

For you as an entrepreneur, conducting the gathering of evidence independently is of limited benefit. On the one hand, you usually do not have sufficient time to focus intensively on establishing proof; on the other hand, as the affected party you are personally involved, which considerably diminishes the neutrality of evidence you collect yourself. Our experienced economic investigators from Rostock place the competitor under surveillance, discreetly conduct enquiries with former employees and customers where appropriate, and ultimately provide you with comprehensive, objective and therefore court-admissible documentation of the unlawful conduct of your competitors: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-rostock.de.

Bound Businessman; Detective Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Detective Agency Rostock, Economic Investigator in Rostock, Economic Investigations Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

When false suspicions are voiced and reported to the competent authorities, this can paralyse the denounced company for weeks or months – an unlawful coercive measure intended to harm a competitor.

Covert Unfair Advertising

The situation can become particularly complex when a competitor defames your company or lures customers in its advertising with advantages that are not actually offered upon visiting the premises (“The voucher quota has unfortunately already been exhausted”, and so forth). Unnoticed, your customers begin to drift away and you are left wondering about the reasons. Meanwhile, the competitor spreads falsehoods about your company in order to discredit you among potential and former customers. A popular method of unfair competition is – as mentioned above in the Burger King–McDonald's dispute – comparison: the competitor disparages your product and elevates their own (comparative advertising), promises customers special remuneration or benefits they allegedly do not receive from you, and so forth.

 

Providing proof of this form of unfair competition is a specialist field of our Rostock economic investigations team. In addition to research and surveillance, in certain cases it may also be appropriate for a detective to pose as a prospective customer in order to establish a breach of the UWG by the competitor. If required, please seek non-binding advice from us. You are welcome to use the contact form for this purpose or to call us on +49 381 3739 0080.