{"id":9961,"date":"2026-10-19T10:47:39","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T10:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mbg.legal\/?p=9961"},"modified":"2026-10-19T10:51:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T10:51:19","slug":"the-frosinone-court-bans-fictitious-online-discounts-as-unfair-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mbg.legal\/en\/sconti-fittizi-online-il-tribunale-di-frosinone-li-inibisce-come-concorrenza-sleale\/","title":{"rendered":"Fake online discounts: The Frosinone Court bans them as unfair competition."},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>In summary<\/strong>. With the precautionary order of August 29, 2025, and the collegiate order of February 17, 2026 (which rejected the appeal), the Court of Frosinone prohibited an e-commerce site from advertising discounts calculated on prices never applied. The conduct was classified as unfair competition pursuant to art. 2598, no. 3, of the Italian Civil Code. The civil judge ordered an injunction, a penalty for each day of delay and for each subsequent violation, and publication of the order on the competitor&#039;s website homepage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What happened?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A company sought emergency protection against a competitor who, for months, had advertised its products on its e-commerce site as &quot;50% off.&quot; The Court granted the request based on the following factors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>the discount was calculated on a list price that had never been practiced, while the selling price remained unchanged;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the \u201cseasonal\u201d promotions followed one another without interruption;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The claims of sales leadership had no objective evidence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>When is an online discount unfair competition?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Discounts calculated on previously unavailable prices and continuously recurring &quot;limited-time&quot; promotions constitute misleading price advertising. They constitute unfair competition pursuant to Article 2598, No. 3, of the Italian Civil Code, read in light of Legislative Decree 145\/2007 and the regulations governing promotional sales (Article 15 of Legislative Decree 114\/1998).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Is correcting the website before the hearing enough to avoid the injunction?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No. According to the panel, correcting the website close to the hearing does not eliminate the risk of recurrence. The risk ceases only for conduct dating back over time, not for conduct interrupted during the trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Can the appellant who has used similar practices take action?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yes. The exception that the appellant had also adopted similar practices in the past does not affect the admissibility of the action, because no law reserves protection for the &quot;irreproachable&quot; competitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Are archived web pages valid as evidence?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yes. Reproductions of web pages acquired using automatic archiving tools have evidentiary value unless specifically disavowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What measures did the Court order?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Inhibition of conduct.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Penalty for each day of delay and for each subsequent violation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Publication of the device on the competitor&#039;s website homepage, a rarely used measure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Why is the decision relevant for businesses?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alongside the AGCM&#039;s measures on price reduction announcements, the rulings strengthen civil protection between competitors. They offer a more rapid tool, with immediate injunctive effects and indirect coercive measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The decisions also clarify that formally complying with the &quot;lowest price in the last 30 days&quot; rule (Article 17-bis of the Consumer Code) is not enough. What matters is that the communicated discount is real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>FAQ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Is only the AGCM able to intervene on misleading discounts?<br><\/strong>No. A competing company can obtain emergency protection from the civil court, as demonstrated by the orders of the Court of Frosinone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Does adhering to the 30-day rule protect against disputes?<br><\/strong>No. Formal compliance with Article 17-bis of the Consumer Code is not sufficient if the communicated discount is not real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Which rules are referred to?<br><\/strong>Art. 2598, n. 3, cc; Legislative Decree 145\/2007; art. 15 Legislative Decree 114\/1998; art. 17-bis Cons. Code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>For any clarification, please contact the professionals at the firm who assisted the appellant company in both phases of the proceedings: <a href=\"https:\/\/mbg.legal\/en\/lawyers\/carlo-ginevra\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Carlo Ginevra<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/mbg.legal\/en\/lawyers\/andrea-marchetti\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Andrea Marchetti<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/mbg.legal\/en\/lawyers\/elisa-maria-babbini\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Elisa Babbini<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/elisa maria babbini\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"> <\/a>And <a href=\"https:\/\/mbg.legal\/en\/lawyers\/sofia-confalone\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Sofia Confalone<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In summary. With the precautionary order of August 29, 2025, and the collegiate order of August 17, 2025, <a title=\"Fake online discounts: The Frosinone Court bans them as unfair competition.\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/mbg.legal\/en\/sconti-fittizi-online-il-tribunale-di-frosinone-li-inibisce-come-concorrenza-sleale\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Fake online discounts: The Frosinone Court bans them as unfair competition.\">Read more<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"slim_seo":{"title":"Fictitious discounts: unfair competition | MBG, Carlo Ginevra","description":"The Court of Frosinone bans fictitious online discounts: unfair competition. The MBG team, led by Carlo Ginevra, assisted the appellant."},"_slim_seo_primary_term_category":215,"_slim_seo_primary_term_post_tag":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[215],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-concorrenza-e-antitrust","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbg.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbg.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbg.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbg.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbg.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9961"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mbg.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9967,"href":"https:\/\/mbg.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9961\/revisions\/9967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbg.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbg.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbg.legal\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}