THE COMPETITIVE LEGAL PROTECTION OF INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY

Abstract

One of the topics covered in the Law against Unfair  Competition is the application of the prohibition of unfair competition to practices consisting of the exploitation of products, services and distinctive signs protectable by industrial property rights, both in cases where they have  not been protected and in those where they are in fact  protected at the time the challenged practice is carried out,  or where they were protected in the past. Case law  has addressed this matter in accordance with the so-called “principle of relative complementarity,” initially proposed  by a segment of the Scholars. This paper is dedicated to  studying the legal basis of this principle, its formulation, its  implications and limits, as well as the most notable  groups of cases.