According to the Law of the People's Republic of China Against Unfair Competition which was effective from December 1, 1993, a business operator means a legal person, or any other economic organization or individual engaged in marketing of goods or services. A business operator shall, in his business transactions, follow the principles of voluntariness, equality, fairness, honesty and faithfulness and observe the generally recognized business ethics. The following acts of a business operator, who infringes the lawful rights and interests of another operator and disturbing the social-economic order, are prohibited by the Law Against Unfair Competition as unfair competition involving intellectual property rights:
1. Counterfeiting a registered trademark (including service mark) of another person;
2. Using on goods without authorization of a unique name, package, or decoration of other's famous goods, or using a name, package, or decoration similar to that famous goods, thereby confusing the goods with that famous goods and leading the purchasers to mistake the former for the latter; or
3. Using without authorization the name of another enterprise or person, thereby leading people to mistake their goods or service for those of the said enterprise or person;
4. Forging or counterfeiting authentication marks, famous-and-excellent-product marks or other product quality marks on their goods or services, forging the origin of the products or make false and misleading representations as to the quality of the goods or services; or
5. Infringing trade secret.
