Scope of hybrid choice of courts agreements and cross border unfair competition acts within exclusive distribution agreements and networks: comments on the Zaragoza Provincial Court Ruling (Division 5th) nº 728/2020 .“I know you did last agreement”

Abstract

The case law of this analysis is of special relevance for the cross-border claims of unfair competition and exclusive distribution contracts. The interest relies on certain claims wherein the Courts must assess the scope of a choice of court agreement previously settled in the contract between the parties, i.e.: whether this choice of court agreement will encompass also unfair competition acts among the the Hague Convention on choice of court agreements of 2005, unfair competition is excluded and therefore, the alleged acts of unfair competition by which the claimant filed the lawsuit before the Spanish courts could not be considered included in the scope of the choice of court agreement of this exclusive distribution contract. Besides, the Court uphold that in this case the effects of the act of unfair competition affected the American market but not the Spanish market when applying the forum for tort liability and the territorial jurisdiction rule of the Spanish Civil Procedure Act.