Empirical Study on the Regulation of Data Crawling Behavior under the Anti-Unfair Competition Law

Data crawling refers to the automated process of acquiring and storing web information, with data crawlers being one of its most widely used forms. The webpage acquisitionwebpage filteringwebpage storage method of crawling, along with data transactions, often involves breaches of contract, infringements, unfair competition disputes, and other compliance-related legal risks. When courts handle such cases, they have generally adopted the Anti-Unfair Competition Law as the legal basis for regulating data crawling and its subsequent applications, achieving widespread legal consensus. In assessing the scope of unfair competition behavior, the judicial community has widely accepted a moderate extension of the criteria for identifying competitive relationships, and more cases are being adjudicated under the second article of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law. Courts generally use the Anti-Unfair Competition Law as the legal framework when reviewing data crawling behavior, while also emphasizing the balancing of multiple interests. At the same time, challenges arise in case rulings regarding the identification of competitive relationships, damage caused by competition, and the determination of business ethics, which necessitate the optimization of existing criteria and the introduction of new standards to enhance their recognizability and operability. Furthermore, when applying the general provisions of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law, judicial difficulties arise, calling for a return to the competitive law nature, achieving a regulatory model under dynamic competition, and introducing economic analysis standards to enhance the predictability of business ethics judgments.