On The Consideration Of Consumer Interests In The Determination Of Unfair Competition On The Internet

In the era of Internet,consumers are the kings.All kinds of market competition are around consumers.The choices of consumers determine the survival of players in the market.The importance of consumers in Internet competition is prominent.With the intensification of Internet competition,various types of new Internet unfair competition have emerged endlessly,which have also violated the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.The Anti-Unfair Competition Law was amended in 2017,redefining unfair competition behaviors to include behaviors that harming consumers' legitimate rights and interests.That affirms the importance of consumers in the assessment of the justness of competition,to a certain extent.Due to the lack of basic theory and specific normative guidance,the protection of consumers under the new Anti-Unfair Competition Law has poor implementation in fact.What's the true meaning of consumers under the Anti-Unfair Competition Law? What role do consumers' interests play in the justification of competitive behavior? How to analyze consumers' interests in individual cases? A series of specific issues need to be resolved.This article attempts to demonstrate that consumers' interests have independent and important judgment value in the identification of Internet unfair competition behaviors based on the special status of consumers in Internet competition.Responding to the lack of substantive consideration of consumers' interests in the judicial practice of Internet unfair competition,the impact of competition behaviors on consumer interests should be fully considered.To guide judicial practice and resolve the difficulties on concrete analysis of consumers' interests in judicial practice,this article attempts to construct a basic framework for the analysis of consumers' interests by introducing economic analysis tools.Finally,this article analyzes how to use consumers' interests to identify unfair competition behaviors in judicial practice.It proposes to analyze the competitive effects of behaviors as a guide,and to weigh the interests of consumers,operators,and the public on the basis of specific methods of interest measurement,aiming to achieving the unity of efficiency and justice in the identification of unfair competitive behavior.The first chapter is to raise questions.Starting from the current cases of Internet unfair competition,the author summarizes the ruling thoughts and reasons of the cases and explores the problems of the application of consumers' interests in the determination of unfair competition behavior.It is found that in judicial practice,the protection of the interests of operators is still the focus,the general infringement referee thinking is usually used to identify unfair competition behavior.Trials of unfair competition cases have insufficient consideration of consumers' interests.On the other hand,there are also problems and challenges in the application of consumers' interests,such as the ambiguity of consumers' interests,the subjective analysis of interests and so on.The second chapter explains the importance of consumers' interests in the identification of unfair competition behavior.Firstly,it clarifies the basic operation mode of Internet competition behavior which is quite different from traditional competition behavior,and demonstrates that consumers occupy vital positions in Internet competition.The protection of consumers under the Anti-Unfair Competition Law,different from the Consumer Protection Law is necessary and rational.Finally,combined with the reflection of the current standards for the identification of unfair competition behavior,it is demonstrated that consumers' interests have their independent judgment value and important status in the determination of unfair competition behavior.The third chapter is to construct an analysis framework of consumers' interests,which is divided into two parts.In the first part,considering the abstract nature of the concept of interest,it is necessary to introduce economic analysis tools to objectively and concretely analyze the impact of competitive behaviors on the interests of consumers,adding feasibility to interest analysis and adding persuasiveness to referees.The second part starts from the introducing the concept of consumers' interests in the Internet,aiming to delineate the general scope of interests' analysis,and then specifically discusses how to conduct the analysis of consumers' interests in judicial adjudication.It is proposed to build a theoretical model of ‘average consumer standards' for convenience,aiming to represent the individual consumer.In the certain case,habits and psychology of the consumers should be taken into consideration.It is clear that interests of consumers have long-term and short-term differentiation and group differentiation.The overall interest and long-term interest shall prevail to analyze the impact of competitive behavior.The fourth chapter is the recommendations for the application of consumers' interests in the identification of unfair competition behaviors.Given that consumers' interests are important but not the only standard in the determination of unfair competition behaviors,the interests of operators and other market participants need to be taken into consideration.The interest measurement method can be used to coordinate the interests of all parties,taking into account the interests of consumers,operators and the public,to achieve the objectivity and accuracy of the justification of competitive behavior.Specifically,it should be transformed to analyze and measure the interests of all parties under the guidance of the competitive philosophy of dynamic competition,neutrality and significant damage,when introducing interest measurement.And the principle of proportionality can be used as the measurement scale of interest,based on the appropriateness and necessity of competitive behavior,and the proportionality between the damage caused and the income brought by it.