Unfair Competition Litigation as a Legal Mechanism to Combat Deceptive and Misleading Electronic Commercial Advertising

Abstract

It is incontestable that electronic commercial advertising constitutes a highly effective instrument for marketing and promotion, representing a contemporary method of presenting diverse goods and services. Yet, this instrument may, at times, be diverted from its legitimate purpose and employed unlawfully against competing enterprises, seeking to tarnish their reputation through falsehoods and misleading representations concerning the actual nature of the goods or services advertised electronically. Such practices exert a tangible influence on consumer decision-making, diverting clientele toward the advertising competitor while dissuading engagement with the aggrieved party. Consequently, where electronic commercial advertising reaches the threshold of falsehood, deception, or disparagement of a competitor’s product or service, the aggrieved party is entitled to invoke the legal remedy of unfair competition. This study underscores the significance of such legal recourse, as enshrined in Algerian Law No. 04-02 on the rules applicable to commercial practices, which serves as a legal mechanism to confront