passing off

[unpakwon]

Please help me understand the following in bold.

The tactic of dragging the competition backwards through name confusion which just falls short of the illegal act of 'passing off' is a bona fide competitive strategy.

Thank you.

[paulmoss]

Can u give us a bit more context?

[David L.]

Just google : ' "passing off" business ' and there's a mine of information about this.

[unpakwon]

Can u give us a bit more context?

OK. The following is the full context.

In the internet domain, bad faith, blocking registrations, and so-called abusive registrations seek to divert users from particular sites. These are notoriously difficult to prove and to prevent, especially if the site carries out bona fide trade of a competing nature. The children's gift advice site www.idealpresent.co.uk was launched in 2004, and in 2005 www.idealpresents.co.uk and www.idealpresent.com launched. In order to have the subsequent sites shut down, despite UK trademark protection being in place, the burden of proof on the original site idealpresent.co.uk was onerous. The tactic of dragging the competition backwards through name confusion which just falls short of the illegal act of 'passing off' is a bona fide competitive strategy.