FOOL’S TEST

fool’s test.The test formerly used by federal courts and by the Federal Trade Commission to

determine whether an advertisement is deceptive, by asking whether even a fool might believe it. •

The name comes from Isaiah: “wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.” The test was

announced in Charles of the Ritz Distrib. Corp. v. Fed. Trade Comm’n, 143 F.2d 676 (2d Cir.

1944). It was replaced by a “reasonable consumer” test by the FTC in 1984. Cf.

REASONABLE-CONSUMER TEST. [Cases: Copyrights and Intellectual Property 12(1).][Blacks Law 8th]