Adlaw: new EC proposals on comparative advertising

Describes the new EC Directive, amending directive 84/450/EEC on misleading advertising. If the proposal for this Directive is passed by the Council and implemented by Member States, there will be new rules to define trademark issues better, and permit (with safeguards) reference to competitors' marks.

EC proposals on comparative advertising

Ross Denton

If the Directive goes through, new rules will better define trademark issues, and (with safeguards) permit reference to competitors' marks. Individual EC countries will not be able to apply more stringent constraints of their own.

The European Commission has recently published its proposals dealing with regulation of comparative advertising. The proposals are in the form of a Directive, and operate as an amendment to Directive 84/450/EEC on misleading advertising, implemented in the UK as the Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations 1988.

If the proposal for the Directive is passed by the...

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