Passing off of Trademark in India:
Passing off action arises when an unregistered trademark is used
by a person who is not the proprietor of the said trademark in relation to the
goods or services of the trademark owner.
Passing off in India is a tort actionable under common law and mainly used to
protect the goodwill attached with the unregistered trademarks. It is founded
on the basic tenet of law that one should not benefit from the labour of
another. Section 27 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999 provides that no infringement
action will lie in respect of an unregistered trade mark but recognizes the
common law rights of the trade mark owner to take action against any person for
passing off their goods/services as the goods of another person or as services
provided by another person.
