Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act

This act prohibits unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts and practices in trade and commerce, drawing on federal unfair-competition law for its interpretation, and it supplements that general prohibition with rules aimed at specific conduct such as price gouging and charitable solicitation during declared emergencies, deceptive advertising, misuse of assumed business names, ticket resale above face value, and misrepresentation of a product's origin. Enforcement rests largely with the attorney general, who may issue investigative demands and subpoenas, accept assurances of voluntary compliance, and seek injunctions and orders restoring money or property, with civil penalties available for willful violations or violations of an injunction and with sanctions extending to a business entity's dissolution, suspension, or forfeiture of its authority to operate. Private parties injured by a violation may sue for damages within a fixed limitations period, and the act's remedies are cumulative rather than exclusive, though certain regulated practices and transactions fall outside its reach.

Editorial summary generated from the text of this act. It is not part of the statute — read the sections below for the operative language.