IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PASSING OFF AND IMPERSONATION ?.

By BarefootLawyers.

Hajji Pilawo has the best pilawo rice in Makindye, and he has been telling all his customers that he wants to expand to Kawempe so that his loyal customers do not have to cross town to find his pilawo. 

Last week he found out that someone else is calling himself Hajji Pilawo in Kawempe and selling his pilawo. In fact, the man is also wearing Hajji Pilawo’s trademark Green Kanzu.

Hajji Pilawo wants to know if this is a criminal offence or something else.

 

WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY?

Pretending to be someone else is a crime. It does not matter whether that person is alive or dead (or risen from the dead) If you pretend to be someone else so that you trick, deceive people by making them believe that you are that person, you are committing this criminal offence known as personation.

On the other hand, when a person makes their business or product 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.

Since Hajji Pilawo is a business that sells Pilawo, then any imitation of his business is passing off and he can sue the person pretending to be him. If he pretended to be the actual person, to deceive the public, then this is a crime known as personation.

The difference between these two is that impersonation, is a criminal offence while passing off is an attack on someone’s business that damages that business. So, Hajji Pilawo can report the crime to police because he is being impersonated and also sue the person for damaging his business.

📷: Unsplash