Identifying and Handling Unfair Competition Practices in Business

Luật sư: Nguyễn Bá Tùng

Cập nhật: 05:59, Thứ Sáu 04/09/2026

Learn how to identify acts of unfair competition, such as fake reviews, brand keyword advertising, and product defamation, along with legal steps businesses can take to protect their brand and rights.

Legal Question: Business A and Business B are both in the cosmetics business. Subsequently, Business A hired people to use multiple fake accounts to give 1-star reviews to Business B's products, ran ads using keywords containing Business B's brand name, and posted on social media claiming that Business B's products were of poor quality.

Thus, does Business A show signs of unfair competition, and what actions should Business B take to protect its rights and interests?

1. Do the actions of Business A show signs of unfair competition?

Accordingly, it can be seen that Business A has performed several actions showing signs of infringing upon the legitimate rights and interests of Business B, specifically:

Pursuant to Clauses 3 and 5, Article 45 of the 2018 Law on Competition, the aforementioned acts show signs of belonging to the group of unfair competition practices prohibited by competition law, especially when Business A performs them with the purpose of causing damage or diminishing the reputation and competitiveness of Business B while diverting Business B's customers to itself.

2. What actions should Business B take to protect its rights and interests?

If Business B detects that Business A is engaging in unfair competition that causes damage or is likely to cause damage to its legitimate rights and interests, Business B can proactively take the following steps to protect its interests:

First, gather relevant documents and evidence regarding Business A's violations.

Business B needs to collect and retain documents, images, URLs, ad content, reviews, and social media posts criticizing its products; information on the accounts that submitted reviews along with product order details for those accounts; data showing the use of brand keywords; as well as evidence proving the connection between Business A and the aforementioned acts. Establishing and preserving evidence is crucial during the process of requesting competent authorities to handle the case.

Second, exercise the right to file a competition complaint with the National Competition Commission.

Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 77 of the 2018 Law on Competition, the statute of limitations for filing a complaint is 03 years from the date the act showing signs of violating competition law was committed. To exercise the right to complain and request the National Competition Commission to handle Business A's unfair competition acts, Business B needs to prepare a complaint file in accordance with legal regulations, which mainly includes the following documents:

After preparing the complete dossier, documents, and evidence as prescribed, Business B submits the complaint dossier to the National Competition Commission for review, acceptance, and resolution in accordance with competition law procedures.

Depending on the acts and verification results from the National Competition Commission, Business A may be subject to penalties under competition law, such as: warnings, fines, forced public correction, forced removal of infringing elements, or forced restoration of the original status quo...

Third, if Business B has incurred actual damages due to Business A's actions, it may institute a civil lawsuit to claim damages.

The documents and evidence gathered by Business B must demonstrate a direct causal relationship between Business A's acts and the actual damages caused to Business B.

Thus, Business B is not limited to filing a complaint with the National Competition Commission, but can also initiate a civil lawsuit to demand compensation for actual damages caused by Business A. Selecting the appropriate approach will help Business B both stop the violation and protect its reputation, brand, and legitimate interests.