Anti-unfair Competition Laws And Regulations For Internet Advertising Blocking

With the increasingly fierce competition in the Internet field,there are more and more unfair competition disputes caused by Internet ad-blocking.Although there is no heated discussion on the law applicable to this competition behavior,it has been mentioned in the academic circles.Opinions mainly focus on the copyright infringement,the third party infringement and unfair competition.Taking account of all the opinions,Law of the People’s Republic of China on Anti-Unfair Competition(hereinafter referred to as the Anti-Unfair Competition Law)is proper to regulate such commercial activity under the existing legal framework in China.In judicial practices,it is often recognized as an act of unfair competition by the court,though there is no explicit relevant provisions.Judgments are made mainly based on the general provision of Article 2nd of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law in terms of competition relationship,principle of good faith and business ethics,business model,property loss,thus caused controversy among scholars.Internet clauses are added in the newly revised anti-unfair competition law,but they still can’t clarify the application of laws concerning internet ad-blocking related disputes,because the general provision lack clear applicable standard.There is a tendency to protect the interests of operators,while consumer and social public interests didn’t get so much attention.The judicial practice in other countries can provide beneficial enlightenment for our judicial practice.Instead of just only protecting operator’s interests,we should attach great importance to interests of customers,tolerant competitive market for technology innovation when determine whether the new types of competition behaviors that are not listed in the law illegal or not.The principle of proportionality can be adopted as an interest weighing method.Internet ad-blocking does not constitute unfair competition if there is no "significant loss" resulted from it.