As the economy continues to stagger, businesses are becoming more aggressive in seeking customers through advertising, which often includes an Internet component. Businesses have become more sophisticated in scrutinizing competitors’ Internet advertising and seem less reticent to challenge such advertising. Attorneys specializing in consumer-protection class actions are filing creative pleadings attacking companies for ads that, even if false in insignificant ways, may, in the context of a class action, cost the company posting the ad millions of dollars. Likewise, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) appears to be taking a more aggressive stance in examining and challenging Internet advertising as it updates its 11-year-old Rules of the Road for Internet advertising.
Recent cases in which either private plaintiffs or the FTC made false-advertising claims in which at least part of the challenged advertising was published on the Internet provide some clues about what not to do. Please note that some of the examples of infringement are of unproven claims; they are provided to show what led to the filing of the lawsuits or what has to be shown to defend the lawsuits.
Don’t Just Make Things Up
Boldness is no substitute for good judgment. For example, on April 19, 2011, the FTC announced efforts in federal court to stop 10 operators from using fake news websites to market acai berry weight-loss products. The FTC alleges that the websites are set up to look like legitimate news organizations, make false statements about investigations and weight loss examples, include phony consumer testimonials, and fail to disclose the financial relationship between the site operators and the acai product sellers. Apparently, some even claim the reports on the website come from named, well-known, legitimate news organizations when they were not. It is not hard to guess how this turns out.
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