Claimant was a famous F1 racing driver, Eddie Irvine.
Defendant, TalkSport, was a radio station who won rights to broadcast commentary of F1 races; sent out 1,000 brochures to likely advertisers attempting to get them to advertise between races.
Brochure had picture of Eddie Irvine on front, doctored in order to show Claimant holding a radio with words ‘Talk Radio’ (former name of Defendant) on it.
Held:
Purpose of passing off is to protect Claimant’s exclusive right to use of his reputation or goodwill.
Therefore 3 elements of passing off are equally applicable to cases of false endorsement.
No need for Claimant to show a specific or direct loss of business, at least in the short-term
suffices that misrepresentation will cause long-term damage to market value of Claimant’s endorsement
On facts:
Eddie Irvine had considerable goodwill as result of popularity of F1 racing.
Defendant’s actions were a misrepresentation that Claimant had endorsed talksport
Was potential for long-term damage to Claimant’s goodwill
i.e. damage to market value of Claimant’s endorsement
Thus passing off.
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Intellectual Property Law | Copyright Case Law Notes (55 pages) |
Commercial Remedies BCL | Irvine V. Talksport Notes (3 pages) |