Newsletter
DISSEMINATION OF AN IMPROPER NEWS RELEASE ON THE INTERNET BY A FOREIGN ENTERPRISE: AN FTL VIOLATION?
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) recently received a complaint filed by a Taiwan firm stating that a certain foreign enterprise had improperly placed a news release on its Web site accusing the Taiwan firm of infringing its patent. The Taiwan firm claimed that the news release constitutes unfair competition and violates Article 19 of the Fair Trade Law (FTL).
According to the latest version of the FTC Principles for Conducting Investigations Involving Foreign Entities, the accuser must present concrete facts and evidence showing the degree to which the accused's unfair competitive actions, or the results of those actions, have affected orderly competition in Taiwan. The accuser must also establish that the accused has violated the FTL. The FTC will not process the case unless both of these conditions are met. In the above-mentioned case, the FTC held that the accused business enterprise's display of news on its Web site is unlikely to affect orderly trade in Taiwan's market, and thus falls outside the scope of the Fair Trade Law.