Pixel International Conferences

PROTECTION AGAINST UNFAIR COMPETITION TRAINING FOR ECONOMIC STUDENTS

 Maria Markova, Bulgaria

 Vladislava Pacheva, Bulgaria

Institute of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer

University of National and World Economy, Bulgaria

[email protected], [email protected]

The subject matter of this paper is the training in the discipline ‘Protection against unfair competition’ for Intellectual Property and Business students, including digital education. “Protection against unfair competition“ is an object of industrial property system that seeks to prosecute unfair business practices. “Protection against unfair competition“ training course provides students with knowledge on the definition of unfair competition and the differences with other industrial property objects. This course presents unfair competition as a legal nature and different types of unfair business practices are presented, such as causing confusion, misleading, imitation of appearance and foreign business signs, use of someone else's reputation, discrediting competitors and unfair comparative advertising. The course provides knowledge about the importance of good commercial practice and how it provides a competitive position for companies. Examples representing unfair competition are given and real cases from the Bulgarian practice are identified. The essence and characteristics of trade secret, as well as the mechanisms for protection of trade secret are analyzed. Basic European regulations, national laws on Protection against unfair competition and new Trade secret law with specific legal and defense mechanisms for counteracting unfair competition are discussed.