Miscellaneous

Sued for encouraging user-generated content

By Walter Olson, Ted Frank, and David Nieporent

Suits by businesses over their competitors' advertising are a staple for us, but this one has a somewhat new wrinkle:

Quiznos, the toasted-sandwich chain, [invited] the public to submit homemade commercials in a contest intended to attack a top rival, Subway. The contest rules made it clear that the videos should depict Quiznos sandwiches as ?superior? to Subway?s.

Subway promptly sued Quiznos and iFilm, the Web site owned by Viacom that ran the contest, saying that many of the homemade videos made false claims and depicted its brand in a derogatory way. Subway is also objecting to ads that Quiznos itself created, showing people on the street choosing Quiznos over Subway.

The dispute over an ad is fairly standard ? companies often sue one another over advertising claims ? but the video contest raises a novel legal question: Quiznos did not make the insulting submissions, so should it be held liable for user-generated content created at its behest? ...

If Subway wins, advertisers and media companies may find themselves liable for false advertising claims made by consumers who participate in their contests.

(Louise Story, "Can a Sandwich Be Slandered?", New York Times, Jan. 29).

Full post as published by Overlawyered on January 29, 2008 (boomark / email).