The Competition Tribunal ruled in favor of Laboratorio Especialidades Farmacéuticas Knop Limitada, in a lawsuit against Farmacias Ahumada S.A., for disloyal competition consisting in the imitation of the plaintiff’s product Paltomiel.
The Tribunal stated that the facts that the defendant had a dominant position in the market, and that it sold a product that imitated its competitor’s product, constitute a disloyal competition conduct, with the objective of augmenting said position. Additionally, Farmacias Ahumada refused to sell the product Paltomiel in its points of sale.
The defendant had to pay a fine of 50 Annual Tributary Units (around US$ 46,000), as well as Tribunal costs.
The Tribunal also stated in its ruling that “even though the use of private labels cannot be considered a practice that alters free competition, it could be if that use has the objective of creating confusion in the consumer, transforming in a conduct of improper exploitation of somebody else’s efforts, affecting market transparency”.