DID YOU KNOW THAT IMITATION IS ILLEGAL IN BUSINESS ?.

By BarefootLawyers.

Nakku has finally saved enough money to buy a 32inch TV. When she reached kikuubo in downtown Kampala, the first shop she saw had a tv playing the video of her favourite song. Nakku saw the label and saw the familiar logo of Samsung. She quickly paid her 400k and went home.

Her husband was furious when he returned to find that she had brought home a “salamsung”. Now they want to know if it is even legal to be tricked like this or it is “goods once sold are not returnable”.

WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY?

When a person makes their products look like yours or tells the public that you are ok with the products that they are selling, this is a form of imitation that the law does not allow. This is called “Passing off”. This is because such imitation deceives and confuses customers who may end up buying the wrong product thinking it is something else.

For example, Nakku really thought she had bought a Samsung tv because of the blue Samsung logo that easily deceived and confused her.

Unfortunately, as a customer, you cannot sue for passing off, but the business that is being imitated can. There are three things that such a company needs to prove so that the courts consider that passing off has happened.

1. First, the original company must have a good reputation in the market. For example, when you see a Samsung logo on a tv you are more likely to want it over other TVs that have no name on them.

1. Secondly, the copycat company must have created an impression that fools the public into thinking the TVs they are selling are the same Samsung TVs or made with permission from Samsung.

1. Thirdly, the original company should have suffered or be likely to suffer damage such as business losses or loss of trust because of what the copycat company has done.

So if you are running a business, make sure you do not put up goods that are ‘forged’ or ‘fake’ otherwise you may be answerable for passing off when representatives of the original business or company comes looking to see how their goods are doing.

As a person who has bought something that is not what you hoped for, we shall talk about what you can do in our next post.

📷: Unsplash

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