2022 CLD 152 COMPETITION COMMISSION OF PAKISTAN

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VS S. 10---Deceptive marketing practices---Scope---Complainant had alleged that the respondent was engaged in the practice of deceptive marketing as it was disseminating false, untrue and misleading information regarding the complainant's products through social media wherein the respondent had claimed that the quality of the complainant's products was inferior in comparison with the respondent's similar products, in terms of their quality, efficacy and fitness, without providing any evidence to substantiate the claims---Validity---Overall net general impression generated by the videos in question regarding the respondent's product was that its product was superior to that of the complainant's product---Dissemination of the videos in question had amounted to distribution of false and misleading information to the consumers without a reasonable basis and the videos also showed false and misleading comparison of goods in the process of advertisement which was capable of harming the business interests of the complainant---Record revealed that a daily wage worker of respondent had produced the alleged deceptive videos and had distributed them---Content was removed after the intervention of the respondent's owner---Letter was subsequently issued by the respondent to its distributors prohibiting them from any such activity in the future---Nothing on the record was available to conclusively establish that the respondent itself had produced or disseminated the deceptive videos in question---URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the official website of the respondent was different from the website wherefrom the deceptive material was disseminated---Complainant had failed to conclusively prove that the alleged WhatsApp groups in which the deceptive videos were shared were created and managed by the respondent---Commission observed that the respondent had a duty to remain vigilant regarding the activities of the distributors of its products, which were essentially acting on its behalf as its representatives and agents---Show cause notice was disposed of accordingly.

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