The Law of Comparative Advertising: Directive 97/55/EC in the United Kingdom and Germany

Description

This work analyses the comparative advertising directive, offering background both to the regulation of comparative advertising in the United Kingdom and Germany and to the passing of the directive. It should provide an understanding of recent thinking on comparative advertising from Germany, where the directive has been the subject of extensive debate. The book also has four appendices in which UK, German and European material is given. The directive applies to any advertisement (or indeed any representation made to promote goods or services) that explicitly or implicitly identifies a competitor. It therefore has the potential to regulate such claims as "the best bookseller in Oxford" and could have a dramatic effect on UK advertising practice. It is an important first step in the Commission's programme of unfair competition harmonisation.

Michael Spence is a Fellow and Tutor in Law of St Catherine's College, Oxford.