Chapter 1: B. The Nature of Unfair Competition Law

Question 1

Unfair Competition

Answer 1

It is unfair competition to pass off your goods as those of another producer by using a trademark confusingly similar to that of the other producer.

Question 2

INS v. Associated Press

Answer 2

1. A quasi-property right exists in published news such that appropriating the published news gathered by another for further commercial purposes constitutes unfair competition in trade.
2. Upheld grant of preliminary injunction prohibiting INS from distributing or publishing AP’s reports.
3. AP doesn’t have a property right in published news against the public but it has a quasi-property right against INS.
4. The right to exclusively sell news one has gathered through its own time, labor, and money is a quasi-property right, and interference with this right constitutes actionable unfair competition.

Question 3

Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox

Answer 3

1. The Lanham Act was intended to make actionable the deceptive and misleading use of marks (reverse passing off) and to protect person engaged in commerce against unfair competition.
2. 43(a) goes beyond trademark protection, which provides a federal remedy for reverse passing off.
3. But, 43(a) is limited and can never be a federal codification, it only applies to certain unfair trade practices prohibited by its text.
4. Rule: when determining whether or not a manufacturer has falsely represented the origin of its product, the word “origin” refers to the individual who created the tangible good for sale.