WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
ORGANISATION MONDIALE DU COMMERCE
ORGANIZACIÓN MUNDIAL DEL COMERCIOIP/N/1/MUS/I/4
26 May 2003
(03-2804)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property RightsOriginal:  English/
anglais/
inglés
MAIN DEDICATED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
LAWS AND REGULATIONS NOTIFIED UNDER
ARTICLE 63.2 OF THE AGREEMENT
MAURITIUS
The present document reproduces the text1 of the Protection Against Unfair Practices (Industrial
Property Rights) Act 2002, Act Nº 22 of 2002, as no tified by Mauritius under Article 63.2 of the
Agreement (see document IP/N/1/MUS/2).
Conseil des aspects des droits de propriétéintellectuelle qui touchent au commerce
PRINCIPALES LOIS ET RÉGLEMENTATIONS CONSACRÉES À LA
PROPRIÉTÉ INTELLECTUELLE NOTIFIÉES AU TITRE
DE L'ARTICLE 63:2 DE L'ACCORD
MAURICE
Le présent document contient le texte
1 de la Loi de 2002 sur la protection contre les pratiques
déloyales (droits de propriété industrielle), Loi n° 22 de 2002, notifiée par Maurice au titre de l'article
63:2 de l'Accord (voir le  document IP/N/1/MUS/2).
Consejo de los Aspectos de los Derechos de Propiedad
Intelectual relacionados con el Comercio
PRINCIPALES LEYES Y REGLAMENTOS DEDICADOS A LA
PROPIEDAD INTELECTUAL NOTIFICADOS EN VIRTUD
DEL PÁRRAFO 2 DEL ARTÍCULO 63 DEL ACUERDO
MAURICIO
En el presente documento se reproduce el texto1 de la Ley de Protección contra las Prácticas
Desleales (Derechos de Propiedad Industrial) de 2002, Ley Nº 22 de 2002, que Mauricio notificó de
conformidad con lo dispuesto en el párrafo 2 del artículo 63 del Acuerdo (véase el
documento IP/N/1/MUS/2).
                                                     
1 In English only./En anglais seulement./En inglés solamente.IP/N/1/MUS/I/4
Page 2
THE PROTECTION AGAINST UNFAIR PRACTICES
(INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY RIGHTS) ACT 2002
ACT NO. 22 OF 2002
I ASSENT
                                                                                                          K.OFFMANN8
TH AUGUST 2002 PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC
_________
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section
PART  I -PRELIMINARY
1. Short title
2. Interpretation
PART  II - UNFAIR
PRACTICE
3. Application
4. General principles5. Causing confusion with respect
to another’s enterprise oractivities
6. Damaging another’s goodwill or
reputation
7. Misleading the public8. Discrediting another’s enterprise
or  activities
9. Unfair competition in respect of
secret information
10. Offences11.    Civil liability12. Regulations13. CommencementIP/N/1/MUS/I/4
Page 3
AN ACT
To provide for the protection against unfair practices in respect of industrial
property rights
ENACTED by the Parliament of Mauritius, as follows -
PART  I -PRELIMINARY
1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Protection Against Unfair Practices (Industrial Property Rights)
Act 2002.
2. Interpretation
In this Act –
“appearance of a product” includes the packaging, shape, colour or other non-functional
characteristics of the product in question;
“business identifier” includes business symbols, emblems, logos and slogans used by an
enterprise to convey, in the course of indust rial or commercial activities, a certain identity
with respect to the enterprise and the products produced or the services rendered by thatenterprise;
“dilution of goodwill or reputation” means the lessening of the distinctive character or
advertising value of a trademark, trade name or other business identifier, the appearance of a
product or the presentation of products or services or of a celebrity or well-known fictional
character;
“industrial or commercial activities” includes the activities of professionals;
“practice” includes an omission to act;“trademark” includes any mark relating to goods, services or to both goods and services;'unfair practice'  includes any act referred to in –
(a) section 52 of the Patents, Industrial Designs and Trademarks Act 2002;
(b) section 3 of the Geographical Indications Act 2002;
(c) section 15 of the Lay-out Designs (Topographies) of Integrated Circuits Act
2002; and
(d) section 4 of this Act;
by a person other than the owner of the title of protection and without the agreement of the latter.IP/N/1/MUS/I/4
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PART  II - UNFAIR  PRACTICE
3. Application
The provisions of sections 4 to 9 of this  Act shall apply to any of the industrial
property enactments.
4. General principles
(1) Any act or practice, referred to in sections 5 to 9 of this Act, which, in the
course of any industrial or co mmercial activity, is contrary  to honest commercial practice,
shall be unlawful.
(2) Any act, referred to in subsection (1),  shall amount to an act of unfair practice
and may give rise to a claim in damages.
(3) In any action under this Act, the court may, notwithstanding any other
enactment, grant such remedies, by way of dama ges, injunction, forfeiture or otherwise as the
court may deem fit.
(4) For the purposes of subsection (1), the term "contrary to honest commercial
practice" shall include any practice, which may constitute a breach of contract, a breach ofconfidence, an inducement to breach or the acquisition of undisclosed information by third
parties who knew, or were grossly negligent in failing to know, that any such practice was
involved in the acquisition.
5. Causing confusion with respect to another’s enterprise or activities
(1) Any act or practice which, in the course of an industrial or commercial activity,
causes or is likely to cause, confusion with respect to another’s enterprise or its activities, in
particular, the products or services offered by such enterprise, shall constitute an unfair practice.
(2) Such confusion referred to in subsecti on (1) may, in particular, be caused with
respect to any of the following –
(a) a trademark, whether registered or not;
(b) a trade name;(c) a business identifier other than a trademark or trade name;
(d) the appearance of a product;
(e) the presentation of products or services; or(f) a celebrity or a well-known fictional character.IP/N/1/MUS/I/4
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6. Damaging another’s goodwill or reputation
(1) Any act or practice which, in the course of an industrial or commercial activity,
damages or is likely to damage, the goodwill or reputation of another’s enterprise, shall constitute an
unfair practice, regardless of whether such act or practice causes confusion.
(2) Any damage to another’s goodwill or reputation as referred to in subsection (1),  may,
in particular, result from the dilution of the goodwill or reputation attached to any of the following –
(a) a trademark, whether registered or not;
(b) a trade name;
(c) a business identifier other than a trademark or a trade name;
(d) the appearance of a product;
(e) the presentation of products or services; or
(f) a celebrity or a well-known fictional character.
7. Misleading the public
(1) Any act or practice which, in the course of an industrial or commercial activity,
misleads or is likely to mislead, the public with respec t to an enterprise or its activities, in particular,
the products or services offered by such enterprise, shall constitute an unfair practice.
(2) Misleading may arise out of advertising or promotion and may, in particular, occur
with respect to -
(a) the manufacturing process of a product;
(b) the suitability of a product or service for a particular purpose;
(c) the quality or quantity or other characteristics of products or services;
(d) the geographical origin of products or services;
(e) the conditions on which products or services are offered or provided; or
(f) the price of products or services or the manner in which it is calculated.
8. Discrediting another’s enterprise or activities
(1) Any false or unjustifiable allegation which, in the course of industrial or commercial
activities, discredits or is likely to discredit, another’s enterprise or its activities, in particular, the
products or services offered by such enterprise, shall constitute an unfair practice.
(2) Discrediting may arise out of advertising or promotion and may, in particular, occur
with respect to any of the following -
(a) the manufacturing process of a product;IP/N/1/MUS/I/4
Page 6
(b) the suitability of a product or service for a particular purpose;
(c) the quality or quantity or other characteristics of products or services;
(d) the conditions on which products or services are offered or provided; or
(e) the price of products or services or the manner in which it is calculated.
9. Unfair competition in respect of secret information
(1) Any act or practice which, in the course of industrial or commercial activities, results
in the disclosure, acquisition or use by others of secret information without the consent of the personlawfully in control of such information and in a manner contrary to honest commercial practices, shall
constitute an unfair practice.
(2)  Any disclosure, acquisition or use of se cret information by others without the
consent of the rightful holder may, in particular, result from -
(a) industrial or commercial espionage;
(b) breach of contract;
(c) breach of confidence;
(d) inducement to commit any of the acts re ferred to in items (a) to (c); or
(e) acquisition of secret information by a third party who knew, or was grossly
negligent in failing to know, that an act referred in items (a) to (c) was
involved in the acquisition.
(3) For the purposes of this section, any information shall be considered “secret
information” where -
(a) it is not, as a body or in the precise configuration and assembly of its
components, generally known among or readily accessible to persons who
normally deal with the kind of information in question;
(b) it has commercial value because it is secret; and
(c) it has been subject to reasonable steps under the circumstances by the rightful
holder to keep it secret.
(4) Subject to subsection (5), any act or practice, in the course of any industrial or
commercial activity, shall be considered an unfair practice where it amounts to or results in -
(a) an unfair commercial use of secret test or other data, the origination of which
involves considerable effort, which have been submitted to a competent
authority for the purposes of obtaining approval of the marketing of
pharmaceutical or agricultural chemical products which utilize new chemicalentities; orIP/N/1/MUS/I/4
Page 7
(b) the disclosure of such data, except where necessary to protect the public
unless steps are taken to ensure that the data are protected against unfair
commercial use.
(5) Subject to subsection (6), no person, other than the person who submitted undisclosed
tests or other data, the origination of which involves  considerable effort, shall rely on such data in
support of an application for product approval for a reasonable period of time after the submission of
those tests or data.
(6) For the purposes of subsection (5), a reasonable period or time shall, taking into
account the nature of the data and the person's efforts and expenditure in producing them, be not less
than 5 years, unless the Minister otherwise decides.
10. Offences
Any person who contravenes section 4(1) shall commit an offence and shall, on
conviction, be liable to a fine of 250,000 rupees and to a term of imprisonment not exceeding
5 years.
11. Civil liability
(1) Any civil proceeding by an owner of a right, under any of the industrial
property enactments for an unfair practice, sh all be commenced by way of plaint with
summons before the court.
(2) On the request of the owner of a right or of a licensee if he has requested the
owner to institute court proceedings for a specific relief and the owner has refused or failed todo so, the court  may -
(a) grant an injunction to prevent an unfair practice, or an unlawful act;
(b)  award damages; and
(c) grant any other remedy provided for in law.
(3) In any action for an alleged unfair practice –
(a) it shall be presumed, unless the de fendant puts it in issue, that –
(i) right subsists in the work to which the action relates;(ii) the plaintiff is the owner if he claims so to be;
(4)  For the purposes of any proceedings under subsection (1), in respect of the
violation of the rights of the owner of a pate nt, where the subject matter of the patent is a
process for obtaining a product, the burden of establishing that an identical product was not
made by the process shall be on the alleged infringer if either of the following conditions isfulfilled -
(a) the product is new; orIP/N/1/MUS/I/4
Page 8
(b) a substantial likelihood exists that  the product was made by the process
and the owner of the patent has been unable through reasonable effortsto determine the process actually used.
(6)  In requiring the production of evidence, the court before which the
proceedings referred to in subsection (4) take  place, shall take into account the legitimate
interests of the alleged infringer in not disc losing his manufacturing and business secrets.
11. Regulations
The Minister may make regulations prescribing all matters that are required or
permitted to give effect to this Act.
12. Commencement
This Act shall come into force on a date to be fixed by Proclamation.
Passed by the National Assembly on the second day of July two thousand and two.
Andre Pompon
            Clerk of the National Assembly
__________