On February 26, 2015, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals held that a “from” e-mail address leading to an unmonitored mailbox was not false or misleading information about the origin or transmission path of the e-mail (Walton v. Network Solutions, Md. Ct. Spec. App., No. 1317, 2/26/15). Here, the plaintiff alleged Network Solutions Inc. violated the Maryland Commercial Electronic … Read more
An automobile shipment broker based in Georgia, has agreed to a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission that will halt the company’s allegedly deceptive practice of touting online customer reviews, while failing to disclose that the reviewers were compensated with discounts and incentives. The broker’s website represented that the company had “more highly ranked ratings and reviews than … Read more
In October of 2014, I blogged about the Roslowski et al. v. Guthy-Renker LLC decision pertaining to California Business & Professions Code §17529.5(a)(2) and (3), and the issue of identifying the sender in the body of commercial email. The decision can be found, here. On February 11, 2015, the California Supreme Court denied the request … Read more
On January 30, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals held in POM Wonderful, LLC, et al. v. Federal Trade Commission that the FTC did not have an adequate basis to require POM Wonderful, LLC to conduct a minimum of two successful “randomized and controlled human clinical trials” before making advertising claims regarding product efficacy and … Read more
On December 18, 2014 in the matter of ZooBuh, Inc. v. Williams et al., the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah ruled that electronic mail messages sent via a company’s servers by a third party, without the latter’s knowledge, did not create minimum contacts to establish general or specific jurisdiction. ZooBuh Inc. is … Read more
Two companies that market skin care and weight-loss products must stop making false or unsubstantiated deceptive claims about their products, under settlements resolving charges in two separate cases brought by the Federal Trade Commission. In one case, the FTC challenged ads for DermaTend, a skin cream that was promoted for do-it-yourself removal of moles, skin … Read more
The case is Roslowski et al. (“Plaintiffs”) v. Guthy-Renker LLC (“Guthy”). The gravamen of the allegations were that Guthy sent Plaintiffs unsolicited commercial email advertisements which, instead of identifying the sender as Guthy, indicated the sender was “Proactiv Special Offer,” “Wen Hair Care,” “Proactiv Special Bonus Deal,” “Wen Healthy Hair,” “Wen by Chaz Dean,” “Proactiv … Read more
A series of defendants will pay approximately $10 million to the Federal Trade Commission to settle charges that they operated a massive scam that sent unwanted text messages to millions of consumers, many of whom later received illegal robocalls, phony “free” merchandise offers, and unauthorized charges crammed on their mobile phone bills. The settlement marks … Read more
On October 10, 2014, a federal district court judge in the matter of Wagner v. Digital Publ’g Corp. ruled that a triable issue of fact on whether the “from” names, domain names and subject lines of four SPAM e-mails contained material misstatements precluded partial summary judgment on plaintiff’s state law claims. Plaintiff Christopher Wagner sued … Read more
As part of a $105 million settlement with federal and state law enforcement officials, AT&T Mobility LLC will pay $80 million to the Federal Trade Commission to provide refunds to consumers the company unlawfully billed for unauthorized third-party charges, a practice known as mobile “cramming.” The refunds are part of a multi-agency settlement that also … Read more
As part of “Operation Full Disclosure,” the Federal Trade Commission has sent warning letters to more than 60 companies that allegedly failed to make adequate disclosures in their television and print ads. According to a September 23, 2014 statement from the agency, the effort is the agency’s latest “to ensure that advertisers comply with federal law and … Read more
The Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 and the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act regulate certain actions of debt relief service providers, such as requesting or receiving fees from consumers prior to the service provider successfully renegotiating at least one of the consumer’s debts and the consumer having made at least one … Read more
Applied Food Sciences, Inc. (“AFS”), has settled Federal Trade Commission charges that it used the results of a flawed study to make baseless weight-loss claims about its green coffee extract to retailers, who repeated those claims in marketing finished products to consumers. The FTC complaint alleges the study was hopelessly flawed and that no reliable conclusions … Read more
A federal district judge in Atlanta is expected to provide a ruling shortly in a Federal Trade Commission case against the marketers of three weight-loss and health-related dietary supplements. In May, the defendants were ordered to pay more than $40 million for violating a 2008 court order. The defendants ran an operation known as Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. They … Read more