Competition law

Competition law and the protection of intellectual property through trademark or design law, in particular with reference to European law, is very important in the area of food law. It is not uncommon for competitors to take legal action against successful or promising products. In the worst case this is achieved via a temporary injunction issued by a court far away from the company's location. This completely stops the sales of a food with serious consequences for customer relations, profits and the image of the affected company.
 

It is also common practice to copy products, trademarks or designs and products launched on the market may violate numerous legal regulations such as the food information or packaging regulations. The authorities on their own are not able to protect an honest company. For this reason almost 90% of all anti-competitive violations are discovered and settled by competitors, in most cases out of court.
The observance of competition law and trademark/design law is, however, also considerably important for the planning of sales and marketing, e.g. with the design and creation of products, advertising materials, product launches or the execution of special marketing measures, such as prize competitions.