Abstract - Quest for Global Competitiveness - Universidad de Puerto ...

Comparative AdvertisingU nder the headin g of f alse adve rt is in g, we can i nclude t he oldc oncept of bad m outhin g the competit ion. It ca n lead to civil l iabilit yf or violation of other people’s trademark s and copyrights (V ilaf ranco,2010; T r ice, 2001) . Genera l ly, it is a bad id ea to e ven m ention thec ompetit ion in the website, s in ce it can s o easily be construed as abad m ention and will a lmost certain l y l ead to laws u it s f r om thec ompetit ion. T h is s i tuation f o llows f rom t he Lanham A ct , whichp rotect s businesses a ga in st this t ype of a ct i vit y ( Lanham A ct ,1949). S pecif ic ally, it s tates that “ Any p erson w ho, on o r inc onnection w i th any goods o r se rv ic es, o r any c ontainer for goods,u ses in co mme r ce any w o rd , term, name, symbol, or devic e, o r anyc o mbin ation thereof, o r any false designation o f o r igin, false ormisleading description of fact , o r false o r misleading representationof f act , w h ic h ... in co mme r c ia l adve r tising o r p ro mo tion,misrepre sents the nature, c haracterist i cs, qualitie s, o r geographico r igin of h is o r her o r another pers on's goods, se rv ice s, o rc o mme r cial a ct iv it ie s, s hall be l iable in a c i vil a ct ion b y any personw ho believes t hat he or she i s o r i s l ike l y t o b e dama ged by sucha ct.” (15 U.S.C. §1125 (a)(1 ) (B ) ).I t i s c lear that the m o re specif ic the attack is on the competit ion, thec lo se r we f l irt with the Lanham Act , and the h i gher t he ch ance wem a y be found in violation of i ts prohib it ions. T he FTC offers a se r iesof gu idelines f o r the u se of the Internet and online a d ve rt i sin g a swe l l as the Better Busi ness Bureau Code of Adve rt i sin g.U .S. f r anch is ors should be m o re used to the U.S. le ga l s yst ems. T hes ame is e xpected f or older f ranch ise s ystems ; therefore, weh ypothesize that:H13A:U .S. f ranch i so rs ’ and n on -U.S. f ranch iso r s ’ websiteswill dif f er on their m entio nin g of competitors .H13B: O lder f ranch iso r s ’ ( before 1989) and newe r f ra nch is ors ’we bsit es will dif f er on their m entioning of competitors .H 14A:U .S. f ranch i so rs ’ and n on -U.S. f ranch iso r s ’ websiteswill differ on the use of comparis on with competitors .H 14B: O lder f ranch iso r s ’ ( before 1989) and newe r f ra nch is ors ’we bsit es will d iffer on the u se of comparison wi thc ompetitors .T he le ga l a reas that we have introduced here a re the ones t hat weu sed as a gu ide to determine how l e ga lly healthy f ranchise s ’we bsit e s really are, a t le ast f r om the perspect i ve of the Americanl e ga l f r amewo r k. W e do not m ean to imply that if a W ebsite does11