IMPROPER USE OF BUSINESS REPUTATION OF ANOTHER BUSINESS ENTITY

The business reputation of a legal entity is a rather complex and multifaceted concept that may include:

• use of other people's designations;
• advertising materials;
• packaging;
• improper use of another manufacturer's product;
• copying the appearance of another manufacturer's product, or comparative advertising.

It is illegal to use the commercial name of a product, in particular a trademark, materials acting as advertising for another company.

In addition, it is illegal to use another manufacturer's product under your own name.

Unfortunately, in Ukraine, the institution of protection against unfair competition is at the stage of development, especially if it concerns the use of the business reputation of other companies, and most often it is the sale of goods of a third-party manufacturer under its own trademark, it can be construction materials, certain food products, etc.

It is also worth noting that such unfair competition is quite common in social networks, among self-employed persons who may not even be registered as entrepreneurs. This happens as follows, one owner of a commercial page (for example, a newly created one) in a social network came across an already more developed page of his competitor, he begins to like the corporate style, design and reaction of, say, the followers of the page to such an external design, and the owner of such begins to literally copy as the design style of such a commercial page as well as the appearance of the goods sold there.

In our time, such cases are almost the least common, since by using business reputation in social networks in certain ways, responsibility for such use can be avoided.

Business reputation is one of the most important components of an enterprise, as it determines the cost of goods or services, the level of prestige, and the place on the market in a certain category.

That is, in short, business reputation is an opinion about an entrepreneur that is formed in society, business reputation can be both positive and negative.

A positive business reputation consists of the opinion of the company's potential customers, which is primarily based on the level of qualification of service providers, the uniqueness of the goods, the very quality of the goods or the provision of services, the location, and the presence of partners. These are just some signs of a company that form a positive business reputation.

A negative business reputation indicates the absence of the characteristics specified in the previous paragraph in the business entity, or vice versa, in certain cases, the presence of opposite qualities, which are signs of a positive business reputation.

Thus, any use of the positive business reputation of another business entity causes damage to the entrepreneur who owns such a reputation, which can cause not only material, but also moral damages.