A recent European Court of Justice ruling provides useful guidance on what constitutes misleading advertising, says Helen Hart
The Comparative Advertising Directive 97/55/EC (the Directive) was implemented in the UK in April 2000 by the Control of Misleading Advertisements (Amendment) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/914) (the regulations). There have been few cases concerning the Directive; consequently, Lidl Belgium GmbH & Co KG v Establissementen Franz Colruyt NV: C-356/04 [2006] All ER (D) 92 (Sep) is of significant assistance in clarifying its interpretation.
The Directive permits a comparative advertisement as long as it fulfils particular conditions, including:
it is not misleading;
it compares goods or services meeting the same needs or intended for the same purposes;
it objectively compares one or more
material, relevant, verifiable and representative features of those goods and services which may include price;
it does not create confusion in the market place between the advertiser and a competitor, or between the advertiser’s trade marks, trade names, other distinguishing marks, goods or services and those of the competitor; and
it does not present goods or services as imitations or replicas of goods or services
