There are literally THOUSANDS of lawyers in the thoroughbred game (we have two on staff for example ... and we're not a 'big' company by anyone's estimates) so don't think they are a rare animal in this field - they're (some would say "alas") anything but.

The lawyers will therefore know what I'm talking about when I mention the area of intellectual property law known as 'passing off'.

The law of passing off is basically concerned with an individual or company misleading the public into thinking that they (or their products or services) are associated with the activity of another company (which causes the first company to suffer damage due to loss of business). A simple example would be a hamburger restaurant 'passing itself off' as another well-known hamburger restaurant. Another example would be someone 'passing themselves off' as a famous model/actor etc. When this happens the original company can potentially sue the second business for passing off.

If you wanted to summarise the law of passing off in one sentence you would say it is one business trading off the reputation [product/name] of another.

So let's add a sprinkle of humour to the theory and ask whether the John O'Shea from 'John O'Shea Racing' in the UK has a claim in passing off against the well known younger trainer of the same name in Australia?



[Photo by Quentin Lang]

... 'Our' John will probably need to lose some hair (gain a few pounds and move countries) and of course, the answer to my question is "No" .. but it made me grin anyway!