Opinion ID: 852697
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Passing Off

Text: The Rushville P.C. alleges that The natural and probable tendency and effect of the defendants using the plaintiff's name is to deceive the public so as to pass off the defendants' services for that of the plaintiff. The tort of passing off (also called palming off) is a species of unfair competition that emerged in the nineteenth century as a type of fraud. 1 J. Thomas McCarthy, McCarthy on Trademarks and Unfair Competition § 5:2 (West 4th ed.2005). Under this doctrine, liability is imposed for the intentional misrepresentation of goods or services as those of another. Restatement (Third) of Unfair Competition § 9 cmt. d (1995). To the extent the above quoted language from the complaint seeks to state a claim for the tort of passing off, we agree that the trial court properly granted summary judgment to the Fort Wayne firm. Passing off is nothing more than a subspecies of fraud. See, e.g., Internat'l News Serv. v. Associated Press, 248 U.S. 215, 258, 39 S.Ct. 68, 63 L.Ed. 211 (1918) (Brandeis, J., dissenting) (In the `passing off' cases (the typical and most common case of unfair competition), the wrong consists in fraudulently representing by word or act that defendant's goods are those of plaintiff.); Gulf Coast Bank v. Gulf Coast Bank & Trust Co., 652 So.2d 1306, 1315 (La.1995) (The law of trademark infringement originally was based on deceit and fraud and evolved into a distinct tort of `passing off'....); see also McCarthy, supra, at § 5:2. Accordingly, like common law fraud, it requires a showing of intentional deception by the defendant. The Rushville P.C. conceded at a hearing on the cross motions for summary judgment that the Fort Wayne firm and its partners never intentionally misrepresented themselves or their partnership as being the same as or associated with the Rushville P.C. and that they never passed off their services as those of the Rushville P.C. Accordingly, since the Rushville P.C. failed to designate any evidence of intentional misrepresentation or deception by the Fort Wayne firm or anyone associated with it, the trial court properly granted summary judgment to the Fort Wayne firm on the passing off claim.