This opinion affirms a judgment for reverse passing off as a violation of Lanham Act section 43(a). Defendant did not just copy the plaintiff’s intellectual property. It obtained tires made with plaintiff’s molds, but lacking the plaintiff’s logo, and then sold the tires as defendant’s own. Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. (2003) 123 S.Ct. 2041 does not shield such a reverse passing off of the physical product (the tires) of the plaintiff’s intellectual property.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (Clifton, J.); July 24, 2018; 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 20520