Private labels and manufacturer's brands: legal keys to understand the conflict

The large retail distribution plays a very important role in the European scenario regarding its contribution to the economy, to the creation of employment and to the diversification of the offer to consumers. Retail distribution is a dynamic, innovative and competitive sector. For several decades large distributors have been commercializing, with remarkable success, a great number of goods with their own commercial seal that compete with the brands of leading manufacturers. This has been called own brand or distributor mark. Although the use of such a tool is fully lawful, certain functions of the brand are affected. We do not have to lose sight of the particularities that arise, on the one hand, from the perspective of competition law and, on the other, of unfair competition. The latter will be analyzed from the perspective of Spanish law and, where appropriate, the Community law.