온라인 검색 서비스에 대한 위계에 의한 부당한 고객유인행위 규정의 적용

The most important parameter of competition in the search service business is quality, especially the relevance of search results and user interface. For search service providers, the search engine’s search algorithm is an important competitive variable that determines the quality of the search, which is the core of competitiveness in competition with other search service providers, and is also a trade secret. Therefore, a balance must be maintained between the demand for increasing transparency for search services and the legitimate interests of search engine providers for preventing search query manipulation. Unfair customer inducement by deception is a type of unfair trade practices which concerns the act of misleading customers by using the method of deception leading to inducement of the customers who are customers of a competitor in a certain business area. In view of the composition of these requirements, the counterpart who has been targeted for deception is simultaneously a customer who is the subject of misleading, and there should be an act of inducement of the same customer who is also a customer of a competitor. Since the goods or services provided by an enterprise itself can be compared with those of competitors to determine whether they fall into deceptive methods, it is necessary to clearly specify which market the goods or services are provided by the operator. The method of deception refers to a case where it is appreciably better or favorable than they actually were or compared to those of a competitor when it is centered on one’s own. What is the actuality to be compared should be specified as a fact, otherwise, for a more accurate comparison, it is necessary to apply counterfactual methods to presume a virtual reality or at least provide conditions or contents that can be taken into account for the comparison. When comparing one’s own with that of a competitor’s, it should be compared with respect to goods or services supplied in the same market. When compared with the actuality, the actuality or conditions/contents that can be considered for comparison should be included in the comprehensive consideration factors for judging appreciability. Against this background, this paper critically addresses the legal problems that may arise when applying the provision of unfair customer inducement by deception under the Fair Trade Act to a virtual case of allegedly favorable positioning and display of video service in search result pages of the video search service.