Unfair Competition
Welcome to Barks and Bubbles! I spent years building my pet grooming and pet supply business. I was shocked and disappointed to hear that my ex-employee, Wilma, opened a very similar business across town. She even used my same pink logo that I designed myself. I'm headed off to see my attorney because I think Wilma's purposely trying to steal business away from me.
Unfair competition refers to several different types of intentional torts that cause economic injury to another person's business. The torts are many various forms of deceptive or wrongful business practices that will allow a civil cause of action and damages for the plaintiff if the plaintiff is successful. Some forms of unfair competition can also be accomplished through a crime, like stealing a client list.
These torts are sometimes broken into two broad categories:
The term 'unfair competition' can refer only to those torts involving an attempt to pass off goods or services as if they belonged to another business.
The term 'unfair trade practices' can be used to refer to all other torts falling under unfair competition.