ABSTRACT
The TMA 1994 makes express provision to preserve the right to bring an action under the common law tort of passing off. Section 2(2) states that no damages will lie under the TMA 1994 to prevent or recover damages for infringement of an unregistered trade mark, ‘but nothing in this Act affects the law relating to passing off’. Yet the wide range of what may now be registered as a trade mark under s 1(1) of the TMA 1994 has led to predictions that actions for passing off will become increasingly infrequent as traders protect their marks by registration.
