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Consumer Law

Reasonable Basis

Developments in false advertising and Consumer law.

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Last Entry: June 09, 2009 at 16:19:42

A tough week for Sears

Posted on June 09, 2009
After entering into a consent with the Federal Trade Commission for its collection and use of data from some of its My SHC Community members, Sears is involved in a second consent with the FTC, this time over environmental claims...

Sears was watching you

Posted on June 04, 2009
Sears settled a Federal Trade Commission complaint alleging that it failed to adequately disclose the scope of the information it collected through a downloaded software application available to members of its "My SHC Community." According to the Commission's complaint, Sears...

Hot Dog Wars

Posted on May 26, 2009
Last week Sara Lee Corp. filed suit against Kraft Foods Inc. alleging that advertising claims for its Oscar Mayer Jumbo Beef Franks are false and violate the Lanham Act. According to the complaint, Kraft promotes the product as "the 100%...

Attack Ads

Posted on May 26, 2009
According to Adage more companies are calling out their competitors in "attack ads." Recent campaigns cited by the article include Domino's claims that it beat Subway in a taste test, Campbell Soup's campaign touting the superiority of its Select Harvest...

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First Mini-Wheats, now Cheerios

Posted on May 14, 2009
It has been a bad few weeks for breakfast cereal manufacturers. First the Federal Trade Commission took Kellogg to task for making false and unsubstantiated claims for its Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal. According to the FTC's complaint, Kellogg claimed that Frosted...

FTC can seek gross revenue, not just profits

Posted on May 08, 2009
Two recent decisions held that the Federal Trade Commission can seek as restitution the full amount of loss incurred by consumers as opposed to disgorgement of defendant's profits. Federal Trade Commission v. Stefanchik, 559 F.3d 934, 931-32 (9th Cir...

CSPI v. VitaminWater

Posted on January 15, 2009
The Center for Science in the Public Interest filed a class action lawsuit against The Coca-Cola Company alleging that it misrepresents the nutritional content and health benefits of its product, VitaminWater. According to the complaint, Coca-Cola advertised and marketed VitaminWater...

FDCA preempts claims over Aquafana

Posted on December 10, 2008
Finding their claims preempted by the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA), the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed a class action complaint against Pepsico, Inc. over the labeling of its Aquafina bottled water.....

FTC's Guides on Endorsements and Testimonials

Posted on December 01, 2008
The Federal Trade Commission is seeking comments on proposed revisions to its Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Endorsements and testimonials are advertising messages that consumers are likely to believe reflect the opinions, beliefs, findings, or...

Classmates are not looking for you

Posted on November 18, 2008
Wired notes that a California man filed a lawsuit against classmates.com for allegedly misrepresenting that former classmates were looking for him on line. According to the complaint, the plaintiff paid $15 for a subscription to the social networking site, which...

NAD: Green Works as good as most, for most

Posted on September 16, 2008
The National Advertising Division (NAD) recommended that The Clorox Co. (Clorox) modify unqualified parity claims for its line of Green Works household cleaning products. The Clorox Co., Green Works, (Case #4882 07/17/08). S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc. challenged a number...

Sparking a Lawsuit

Posted on September 08, 2008
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has filed a lawsuit against MillerCoors Brewing Company to stop it from selling its alcohol-energy drink, Sparks. The complaint alleges that MillerCoors' advertising and marketing violates the DC Consumer Protection Procedures...

False Advertising Claims by Syncsort Dismissed

Posted on July 22, 2008
In an unpublished opinion, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey granted a defendant?s motion for summary judgment dismissing a false advertising claim for damages because the plaintiff did not provide any evidence that consumers relied on...

Civil Penalties for Spyware?

Posted on July 15, 2008
In testimony before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the Deputy Director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection, Eileen Harrington, explained that "legislation authorizing the Commission to seek civil penalties in spyware cases could add...

FCC to examine product placement

Posted on July 01, 2008
Because of the increasing prevalence of technology such as Tivo and digital video recorders, the Federal Communications Commission believes that networks might be turning to more subtle means of advertising, such as product placement, to capture revenue...

Green Guides Workshop III

Posted on June 23, 2008
On July 15, 2008 the Federal Trade Commission will hold its third workshop related its regulatory review of the Green Guides. The focus of this workshop will be developments in environmental claims for building and textiles and the consumer perception...

FACTA class actions are over

Posted on June 04, 2008
Yesterday the President signed into law H.R. 4008, the "Credit and Debit Card Receipt Clarification Act of 2007." Now Public Law No. 110-241, the statute provides that it is not a "willful" violation of FACTA to fail to remove the...

NY Court Rules Against Dell

Posted on May 28, 2008
A New York court held that Dell engaged in a host of deceptive practices, including fraud, false advertising, and abuse debt collection practices. The lawsuit, which was filed by the New York Attorney General's office in May 2007, will now...

A "Real Beauty" Blunder (update)

Posted on May 09, 2008
Maintaining that his comments were taken out of context, Pascal Dangin and Unilever released the following statement yesterday: "The recent article published by The New Yorker incorrectly implies that I retouched the images in connection with the [2005] Dove 'real...

A 'Real Beauty' Blunder

Posted on May 08, 2008
A Business Week article says that Dove may be on the hot-seat with consumers for a recent leak about it's "Real Beauty" campaign. According to advertisement airbrush artist Pascal Dangin, the women in Dove's "Real Beauty" ads go through extensive...

FTC & wireless content costs

Posted on May 08, 2008
During yesterday's forum on mobile marketing, FTC Commissioner Jonathan Liebowitz announced plans to target wireless content providers that fail to disclose fees. He noted particular concern over messaging, video, and gaming services aimed at teens, who are quick to adopt...

Price Inflation

Posted on April 28, 2008
In a number of cases plaintiffs have successfully argued that deceptive representations have caused them economic harm because the representations gave the product "an actual value that was less than the amount they paid for the product." Illustrative of the...

Cable Companies Step into the Ring

Posted on April 28, 2008
Negative advertising has gotten a boost from cable companies such as Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, and Verizon recently. The latest advertisements from cable companies are focusing on attacking the shortcomings of their competitors rather than touting their own advantages...

Best engineered

Posted on April 15, 2008
The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (NAD) found claims by Lenovo that is PCs were the "The World's Best-Engineered PCs with the Awards to Prove It" and "The World's Best-Engineered PCs" were unsubstantiated superiority claims...

This one hurts

Posted on March 25, 2008
A jury verdict in favor of adult web site operator Impulse Media is a blow to the Federal Trade Commission's efforts to hold advertisers liable for the conduct of their affiliates. When it filed its complaint against Impulse Media (and...

Green Guides, round 2

Posted on March 20, 2008
The Federal Trade Commission will host its second workshop on the Green Guides on April 30, 2008. This workshop will address developments in green packaging claims and consumer perception of such claims. Interested parties have until April 11, 2008 to...

How many members?

Posted on March 19, 2008
Last month commercial real estate company, Costar Croup, Inc. filed a lawsuit alleging that a competitor, Loopnet, Inc. violated the federal Lanham Act by repeatedly misrepresenting the number Loopnet registered members and by deceptively associating "registered members" with "active users...

Data breach impacts 4.2 million accounts

Posted on March 18, 2008
The Boston Globe reports that Hannaford Bros. supermarket disclosed that a data breach potentially exposed the credit and debit card data of 4.2 million accounts.

Claim interpretation -- context counts

Posted on March 14, 2008
A recent decision by the District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin is a reminder that advertising claims must be evaluated in context and from the perspective of the intended audience, especially ads that target industry professionals rather than...

Monitor those affiliates

Posted on March 07, 2008
As part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, Cyberheat agreed to pay $413,000 and monitor its affiliates. (I mentioned the Commission's action against Cyberheat in March 2007, when the Commission failed to convince a federal judge that the...

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