Used properly, the Internet can be a powerful and valuable marketing tool. Unfortunately, in the wrong hands, it can be used to adversely affect your business.
It recently came to the attention of the National Tyre Dealers Association that a wholesaler of tires on the Internet had downloaded details of all NTDA members and customers who logged on to certain retailers’ websites were being diverted to the wholesaler’s site.
It may sound a trivial offense, but it is one which is being taken increasingly seriously by courts. Indeed, in a recent case, a disgruntled estate agent purchased the ".com" version of his former employers’ domain name (the employers were using the ".co.uk" address) and visitors to the site were diverted to a hardcore porn site. The case went to court and the employee was found guilty of passing off and copyright infringement and had to pay costs of £15,000. In this instance, the NTDA warned members that this was happening and e-mailed the following letter to members:
“Following on from our warning regarding internet tire suppliers who could be using software to imply a direct relationship between you and the online supplier, we strongly recommend that every member undertakes an Internet search on his company name and brand and check whether this is affecting you.
“To check whether your company is affected simply put in your company name in the search box and check all links are genuine and refer directly to your own site. We are aware of a number of instances whereby the search will be directed to a third party tire wholesaler who will take payment for the tires and provide an unrelated tire center as the fitting agent. As we said in our circular last week, NTDA has no formal arrangement with any Internet company to provide information on members sites as fitting centers.
“We have evidence of companies supplying tires wholesale on the Internet passing themselves off through intentional misrepresentation which is likely to lead the public to believe that the services members are offering via the Internet are the services of an unrelated internet provider which is in some way connected to you.
“This is legally actionable and if any member discovers that his company is being scammed in this way please contact us and we will provide you with a suitably worded warning letter to any company or individuals engaged in this activity that you have an actionable claim for damages and requesting immediately removal of any such link.”
This type of action is known as "passing off" and, such is the potential for commercial damage that the NTDA agreed to the publication of their letter, as a warning to all retailers. The NTDA also went further, by making available to members a letter, drafted by lawyers, giving offenders seven days to remove links and end the passing off, or else face legal action.
Said NTDA Director Richard Edy: "This episode is a salutary tale for all tire retailers and underlines the importance of constantly monitoring your Internet site and checking on all the links to ensure that your hard work and investment is not being taken advantage of by unscrupulous companies." (Tyres & Accessories)
