Competencia desleal: la economía del engaño

Law 20,169 protects competitors and consumers in Chile from unfair competition. As it is plausible to conceive that the Law requires judges to confirm the capability of a potentially unfair conduct geared to divert customers from one competitor to another, it is necessary to asses from an economic perspective when a supposedly unfair conduct is capable to divert trade. This paper argues that when there is false information about the attributes of a product, enforcing the law could only make sense when the products are experience and credence goods. It contends too that usurpation of a rival’s identity is an especially relevant form of unfair competition since the intent is not only to divert clientele, but also to destroy a market tool that provides truthful information on the features of products. Since the Law grants jurisdiction to the ordinary courts of justice to resolve this type of disputes, this paper aims to provide a simple guide on interpreting and enforcing the Law.