SwitzerlandUnfair Competition Act, Exploitation of Another Person's Market-Ready Work Product
Federal Act against Unfair Competition (UWG/LCD), SR 241, Art. 2, 5 lit. c, 23
In force since .
An unfair competition rule binding private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Prohibition
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- Do not take over and exploit, through a technical reproduction process, another person's market-ready work product without a reasonable effort of your own.
- Intentional conduct that meets this or the Act's other unfair-competition grounds is prosecuted on complaint and can carry a custodial sentence or a monetary penalty, in addition to any civil claim.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text. Also read by: BGE 131 III 384 (recorded ).
In the frameworks
- NIST AI RMF
- MAP 4.1Approaches for mapping AI technology and legal risks of its components – including the use of third-party data or software – are in place, followed, and documented, as are risks of infringement of a third party’s intellectual property or other rights.
Our reading of where this law's duties sit in each framework. It never says that running a control meets the law. How we read a framework against the law
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionYes
Criminal exposure note
Article 23 paragraph 1: intentional unfair competition under Articles 3, 4, 5 or 6 is punishable on complaint by a custodial sentence not exceeding three years or a monetary penalty, in the wording in force since .
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Those entitled to sue under Articles 9 and 10, who may also file the criminal complaint under Article 23 paragraph 2.
Settledness
- As of
- Case link
- https://www.bger.ch/ext/eurospider/live/de/php/clir/http/index.php?highlight_docid=atf%3A%2F%2F131-III-384%3Ade&lang=de&type=show_document
- Case citation
- BGE 131 III 384
- Open questions
- Which "besondere Umstände" (special circumstances) make a competitor's systematic search for, and taking over of, listings published on another platform unfair under Article 2 UWG, given that the Federal Supreme Court held such taking over "als solche nicht unlauter" (not unfair as such)?
What it makes you log
Logging duty
Articles 2, 5 and 23 state the general clause on unfair conduct, the rule on exploiting another's work result (Art. 5 lit. c) and the penalty for intentional unfair competition. They impose no duty to create, keep, produce or review a log or record, and name no audit, no auditor and no one who may demand a record. The articles state no territorial hook.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Article 2's general clause treats as unfair and unlawful any deceptive conduct, or conduct otherwise contrary to good faith, that affects the relationship between competitors or between suppliers and customers.
Article 5 lit. c specifically treats as unfair taking over and exploiting, as such, another's market-ready work product through a technical reproduction process without a reasonable own effort, a misappropriation-style doctrine capable of reaching the wholesale technical copying of a competitor's compiled output, including scraped data.
Intentional unfair competition under Articles 3 to 6 is a criminal offence on complaint, carrying a custodial sentence not exceeding three years or a monetary penalty (Art. 23 para. 1), in its current form since .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app crawls the web or trains models.
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