Unfair Competition Cases- False Publicity Committed by an Exhibition Company

A private exhibition company based in Guangdong earned its reputation after organizing exhibitions of an industry for more than 10 years. A well-known exhibition company based in Shanghai cooperated with a foreign company and introduced a world-renowned exhibition brand of that specific industry to China. The two also decided to hold exhibition in Guangdong. In order to hinder the entry of its competitors, the Guangdong-based company filed complaints with the Administration of Industry and Commerce of Guangdong and Shanghai, claiming that the Shanghai-based company had committed false publicity and requiring the administration mete out punishment. After investigation, it was found that no false publicity was committed. Therefore, no administrative punishment was made.

The Guangdong-based company proceeded to file a lawsuit with the local court on the ground that false publicity had been made. Mr. Yang and his team advised the Shanghai-based company in its collection of evidence, and helped it handle and cooperate with the investigation launched by the Administration of Industrial and Commercial. In order to meet the higher requirement of providing proof as set up by the court, Mr. Yang and his team fully employed evidence preservation tactics such as notarization, and collected a lot of evidence to refute the opposing party’s claim. The legal team also pointed out that the company had abused its right to sue as a measure of unfair competition. Eventually, the court ruled in the Shanghai-based company’s favor and overruled all the claims made by the Guangdong-based company.