Washington Law Review
Abstract
During the past twenty years, courts have increasingly come to accept a cause of action for "reverse passing off." Unlike the more typical case of passing off, reverse passing off occurs when a defendant sells a product manufactured by a plaintiff under the defendant's own mark. Despite this difference, courts regularly invoke federal and state trademark laws, including the Lanham Act, to give the plaintiff a right to recover. This Article challenges that conclusion. It argues that the Lanham Act does not actually support a cause of action against a defendant who engages in reverse passing off. In addition, most producers should not have a right to insist that they be acknowledged as the source of a product. The only exception to this conclusion is for artists, who, for several reasons, warrant this sort of protection.
First Page
709
Recommended Citation
John T. Cross,
Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due: Revisiting the Doctrine of Reverse Passing off in Trademark Law,
72 Wash. L. Rev.
709
(1997).
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr/vol72/iss3/2