A Study On Protection Of Consumer Rights In Unfair Competition On Internet

In recent years,cases of unfair competition on internet have been disclosed frequently,such as 3Q War and Case of Baidu Souba and thus the protection of consumer rights has become eye-catching and attracted more and more attention.Although the government has revised the Anti-unfair Competition Law,it is only mentioned that the unfair competition behaviors of proprietors should be regulated but the protection of consumer rights is not involved;it is only mentioned in section 1 that “this law is formulated to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers...” and in section 2 that one standard to judge unfair competition behaviors is “infringement of consumer rights and interests”.It meas that in existing legal environment,consumers must turn to Anti-unfair Competition Law for protection and safeguard the legal rights if their rights and interests are infringed due to unfair competition behaviors between proprietors.On November 4,2017,the NPC Standing Committee issued the revised Law of the People's Republic of China for Countering Unfair Competition(Presidential Decree No.77)and in the article 2 of section 2,a clear definition was given to unfair competition behavior: “the behavior of proprietor that contravenes the provisions hereof,disrupts the market competition order and harms the legitimate rights and interests of other proprietors or consumers.” It is mentioned again that one standard to judge the unfair competition behaviors is consumer rights and interests.However,in section 12,the judgement standards for unfair competition behaviors emerging internet domain do not include consumer rights and interests.Hence,consumers can not litigate to safeguard their legal rights when their rights and interests are infringed by unfair competition behaviors and thus the condition of “having right without protection” occurs.In other words,consumers can not litigate directly when facing unfair competition behaviors of proprietors.At present,a common problem exists in various countries in the world: consumer rights can be infringed by proprietors and it is difficult to safeguard the legal rights of a single person;hence,all the countries are striving for guaranteeing legal rights and interests of consumers and establishing litigation system;thereinto,giving full play to the functions and roles of consumer protection groups and building relevant litigation systems are procedure mechanisms many countries and regions build to reinforce the protection of massive consumer rights and interests.In section 47 of Consumer Law and section 55 of Civil Procedure Law,consumer group litigation is mentioned but only including public interest litigation;namely,if the rights and interests of many consumers are infringed or may be infringed,the consumer group can initiate a litigation of inaction,but excluding the action for damage consumers initiate due to infringement of private rights and interests.After analyzing the legislative trends of various countries,it can be found that the fundamental purpose of legislation has turned into the purpose of adjusting and regulating proprietors and protecting consumer rights through Anti-unfair Competition Law.With a view to the developmental features and trends of internet economy,a clear definition will be given to consumers born in internet economy,especially network consumers in this paper.The problem that the contents with regards to protection of consumer rights and interests must be consolidated in Anti-unfair Competition Law will be analyzed and real cases will be used to make a deep analysis on unfair competition behaviors emerging on internet and analyze which rights and interests they will harm;finally,some recommendations will given aiming at adjustment and improvement of Anti-unfair Competition Law and establishment of consumer protection litigation system.