Accused of Unfair Competition? Your Next Steps
A successful business will attract many customers, but competitors can also get fairly jealous of your accomplishments. In turn, this may result in them trying to ruin your company. If you’ve been accused of unfair competition, then you need to make sure you understand the facts and have the right legal representation on your side.
What Is Unfair Competition?
Unfair competition is the act of using one or more methods of wrong, fraudulent, and malicious business practices to gain an advantage. A business can use these to harm its competitors financially, making them lose money. These methods are the opposite of a free, fair, and open market.
There are a few methods that constitute unfair competition. They include:
- False advertising
- Spreading malicious rumors
- Infringing trademarks
- Disparaging competitors’ products
- Breach of covenant
- Mimicking competitors’ business attire
- Corporate espionage
There are many more methods, but all of them are designed to give the company an unfair advantage over its competitors. By employing trickery, fraud, or even violence, the victim is often negatively affected. Because of this, unfair competition is illegal and laws have been made to address violations.
If a rival company is jealous of your success, they may accuse you of unfair competition. These accusations can’t be taken lightly, as the laws protect companies from these practices. Unfortunately, this means that the accusations alone will do a lot of damage to your business.
ACCUSED OF UNFAIR COMPETITION? YOUR NEXT STEPS
You might be enjoying a normal day at work until you’re informed that a rival is accusing you of unfair competition. Your day is ruined, but most importantly, your company or business is in danger. Despite this, you should stay calm, since panicking won’t do you any good.
You should try to get to the bottom of the matter. Make sure you research the claims against you as well as the laws surrounding unfair competition. Being prepared to deal with the claims will increase your chances of winning the case.
At the same time, whatever damage was caused should be addressed. Clean up any messes and try to prevent more. Lock down the company secrets and make sure everything is secure.
As you won’t be able to solve this alone, you should contact a law firm for assistance. Trained and experienced lawyers can navigate the legal ramifications and complications quicker than you can. They can take care of the legal aspects while you can focus on running your business.
Unfair competition claims can be a mix of federal and state law at times. This is very confusing to laypeople, which is why lawyers are better equipped to deal with claims like this. A skilled lawyer can even turn this into an advantage, beating your accuser at their own game.
HAS YOUR BUSINESS BEEN ACCUSED OF UNFAIR COMPETITION?
If your business or company is facing claims of unfair competition from others, our Chicago business litigation attorneys at King & Jones can help you address these claims. Our team has experience in cases involving these claims and can help you navigate it correctly. To learn more or schedule a free, no-risk case evaluation with our team of business litigation attorneys, please visit our website or call us at 312-372-4142 today.
