'where' vs 'as where' - Relative pronouns?

Question

Other torts include defamation (libel and slander), private nuisance, assault, false imprisonment, trespass and passing off. Passing off occurs where, through icons or logos or website styles, a business is conducted in such a way as to mislead the public into believing that its goods or services are those of another more famous business, as where a design or packaging trade mark is falsely used.

Source: P9, Law: the Basics, Gary Slapper

1. What are the similarities and differences? What would happen if I simply wrote where?

2. With which definition does as accord? What does as mean here?

Answer 1

The as is used in the sense as is the case to restrict the sense of what follows it.

Without the as the following clause would be taken to define mislead &c, implying that passing off occurs only in instances where a design or packaging trade mark is falsely used. As marks such false use as merely an example of passing off; this leaves room for the term to embrace other misleading practices such as using a corporate name very similar to a competitor's or using a celebrity's picture to imply that the celebrity endorses one's product.