The Phorm "Webwise" System

[Ian Batten]

>
>
> 2.  I am not convinced that there is no offence here under the Fraud
> Act.  You say that the special machine "pretends" to be the machine
> serving the web site that the user requested.  That seems to me to be
> a false representation of fact under s.2 of the Fraud Act - noting in
> particular s.2(5).

Complex, because a prosecution would need to be to a criminal standard  
of proof, and (modulo the complex world of private prosecutions) would  
have to be done by the DPP or their proxy.

More promising is the issue of trademark `passing off'.  If I have a  
trademark in the name of my business, surely someone else passing  
themselves off as me --- in order to sell a related product from  
another vendor, potentially --- is infringing my trademark?   So if I  
hold a trademark in IansBooks.com, and the effect of their  
impersonating my website is to drive my potential customers towards  
SomeoneElsesBooks.com (because they are placing adverts on other sites  
picked up by Phorm's `books' channel), sure I can bring a civil action  
against them?

ian