Copyright and Passing Off

The law will prevent one trader passing off its goods as those of another. Passing off is primarily concerned with commercial disputes. It has five elements:

A misrepresentation.
Made by a trader in the course of trade.
To prospective customers of his or her or ultimate consumers of goods or services supplied by him or her.
Which is likely to damage the business or goodwill of another trader.
Which causes actual damage to the business or goodwill of another trader.

P assing off has been used to prevent one newspaper using a name and layout which is confusingly similar to another newspaper, and by authors to prevent their name being used on a work which is not their own.

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