The Illinois Deceptive Trade Practices Act is a short statute approved in 1965. Its formal title is the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, found at 815 ILCS 510. It lists 12 ways a business can mislead others about who it is, what it sells and what it charges, and it lets a person likely to be damaged ask a court for an injunction. This page is for owners of U.S. businesses with ties to Canada or India. General information, not legal advice.
Who does the Illinois Deceptive Trade Practices Act cover?
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Who can violate it? | Anyone who acts in business, a vocation or an occupation, whether an individual, corporation, partnership, trust, association, government or other legal or commercial entity. |
| Who can sue? | Anyone likely to be damaged when another person engages in a deceptive trade practice. The plaintiff need not compete with the defendant or prove actual confusion. |
| What is excluded? | Conduct that complies with an agency's orders, rules or statutes; publishers, broadcasters and printers without knowledge of the deception; and two narrow carve-outs tied to the Act's 1965 start. |
| Who enforces it? | The text names no state agency. The Attorney General acts under the Consumer Fraud Act. |
What it means for a foreign-owned or cross-border business
| Situation | What the law says | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Business name or website domain close to an Illinois competitor's | Likely confusion about source, sponsorship, affiliation or connection is a listed practice (items 2 and 3). | Search for similar names, logos and domains before you register or print. |
| Marketing copy written for another market | Claiming an approval, status or affiliation the seller lacks, or a quality the goods lack, is listed (items 5 and 7). | Keep proof for every certificate, approval or affiliation claim. |
| Refurbished goods sold to Illinois buyers | Calling reconditioned, used or secondhand goods original or new is listed (item 6). | Label condition plainly in each listing. |
| "Was/now" prices on a store run from abroad | False or misleading statements about price cuts are listed (item 11). | Record each earlier price and the dates it applied. |
The rules and checklist page lists all 12 practices and adds the Phillips Park Claim-Proof Binder. Because the Consumer Fraud Act makes the same practices unlawful, read the two together.
For setting up under a trade name, see our guides to assumed names and county clerk filings, starting a business in Illinois and record retention, or the entry guides for Canadian and Indian companies.
Official sources
- Illinois General Assembly: Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, 815 ILCS 510
- Illinois General Assembly: Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, 815 ILCS 505
This page summarizes public guidance in plain language. If anything here differs from the official source, the official source controls.