Paris: False Indications and Unfair Competition, Articles 10 to 12

In one line

The Convention closes with the obligations that are not about registered rights at all: it forbids false indications of source, requires effective protection against unfair competition, and requires every member to run a patent office.

In exam wording: Articles 10 to 12 of the Paris Convention require seizure of goods bearing a false indication of source or of the identity of the producer, effective protection against unfair competition as defined in Article 10bis, appropriate legal remedies and standing for interested associations under Article 10ter, temporary protection for goods exhibited at official international exhibitions under Article 11, and the establishment by each country of a special industrial property service and a central office under Article 12.

Article 10: false indications of source

Article 10(1): the provisions of Article 9 shall apply in cases of direct or indirect use of a false indication of the source of the goods or the identity of the producer, manufacturer or merchant.

Article 10(2): any producer, manufacturer or merchant engaged in the production, manufacture or trade in such goods and established either in the locality falsely indicated as the source, or in the region where that locality is situated, or in the country falsely indicated, or in the country where the false indication of source is used, shall in any case be deemed an interested party.

Why it matters here. This is the seed from which the whole law of geographical indications grew, through the Madrid Agreement on false indications of 1891, the Lisbon Agreement of 1958, and finally TRIPS Articles 22 to 24.

Article 10bis: unfair competition

Article 10bis(1): the countries of the Union are bound to assure to nationals of such countries effective protection against unfair competition.

Article 10bis(2): any act of competition contrary to honest practices in industrial or commercial matters constitutes an act of unfair competition.

Article 10bis(3): the following in particular shall be prohibited:

(1) all acts of such a nature as to create confusion by any means whatever with the establishment, the goods, or the industrial or commercial activities of a competitor;

(2) false allegations in the course of trade of such a nature as to discredit the establishment, the goods, or the industrial or commercial activities of a competitor;

(3) indications or allegations the use of which in the course of trade is liable to mislead the public as to the nature, the manufacturing process, the characteristics, the suitability for their purpose, or the quantity, of the goods.

Two things follow that a candidate should say.

The list is illustrative, not exhaustive. The words "in particular" mean that any act contrary to honest practices qualifies, and the three named classes are examples.