When can you refer to someone else’s trade name or trade-mark on a webpage and not run afoul of trade-mark infringement or passing off? The issues of passing off and trade-mark violations in relation to domain names and metatags on the Internet were recently considered in the decision of the British Columbia Supreme Court in British Columbia Automobile Assn. v. O.P.E.I.U., Local 378 (2001), 10 C.P.R. (4th) 423 (B.C.S.C.) ("BCAA v. O.P.E.I.U").
The plaintiffs in this case alleged trade-mark infringement and passing off with respect to three versions of the defendant’s website. The court determined that there was a passing off in relation to the defendant’s first website, but not the sec-ond and third websites, and that there was no depreciation of the plaintiff’s goodwill relating to the three websites. The case is thus useful in set-ting out the required elements to support a claim of passing off and trade-mark infringement in the context of websites.
