By Dr. Markus R. Frick, LL.M., Esq.
The Swiss Federal Supreme Court has issued a decision specifically addressing – for the first time – the common law doctrine of "unclean hands", in a case involving comparative advertising for eyewear.
A Swiss consumer magazine published an article about the price policy of suppliers of eyewear. The study compared the prices for branded glasses, lenses and sunglasses offered by the parties to the lawsuit and other suppliers. The article illustrated its conclusions in a chart comparing the different prices. Subsequently, Visilab, the defendant in the proceedings, claimed in its advertisements to be the market leader in Switzerland with the cheapest prices and relied for that purpose on the chart of the consumer magazine. The lower court dismissed the competitors claim, Fielmann, that such conduct constituted unfair competition. The lower court based its dismissal of the unfair competition claim mainly on Visilab’s assertion that Fielmann itself had
