Tag Archives: false advertising

Court formulates survey question in consumer protection case

Posted on June 27, 2019 by rtushnet

Moorer v. Stemgenex Medical Group, Inc., No. 16-cv-2816-AJB-NLS, 2019 WL 2602536 (S.D. Cal. Jun. 25, 2019) This “complex and troubling case” involves allegedly false advertising of stem cell treatments; the court found it “narrowly” certifiable and—unusually—specified the consumer survey questions … Continue reading →

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law firm raises significant 1A questions over nursing home-specific advertising law

Posted on June 27, 2019 by rtushnet

Wilkes & McHugh, P.A. v. LTC Consulting, L.P., — S.E.2d —-, 2019 WL 2570982 (Ga. Jun. 24, 2019) Georgia revised its anti-SLAPP law to be more like California’s (though apparently without the exception for commercial advertising) and the state supreme … Continue reading →

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The probiotic worm turns: previous PI loser wins $15 million in Lanham Act case

Posted on June 26, 2019 by rtushnet

De Simone v. VSL Pharmaceuticals, Inc., No. TDC-15-1356, 2019 WL 2569574 (D. Md. Jun. 20, 2019) Previous discussions.  The parties compete in offering a probiotic product; De Simone used to license his formulation to VSL, then went out on his … Continue reading →

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variety in superiority claims can add up to disparagement

Posted on June 20, 2019 by rtushnet

Deerpoint Group, Inc. v. Agrigenix, LLC, 2019 WL 2513756, No. 18-CV-0536 AWI BAM (E.D. Cal. Jun. 18, 2019) Deerpoint sued Agrigenix for violating the Lanham Act and California’s UCL via false advertising, violating California and federal trade secret law, and … Continue reading →

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photo of competitor’s product not false where it’s indistinguishable; also some design patent functionality

Posted on June 13, 2019 by rtushnet

Tactical Medical Solutions, Inc. v. KARL 2019 WL 2435859, No. 14 C 06035 (N.D. Ill. Jun. 11, 2019) TMS sued Karl and his sole proprietorship, EMI, for infringement of TMS’s design and utility patents by selling a “knockoff” version of … Continue reading →

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Amicus brief in video game/trademark case

Posted on June 10, 2019 by rtushnet

With the help of Phil Malone and Alyssa Picard at Stanford’s IP clinic, I and others submitted a law professors’ brief in this case involving Activision’s use of Humvees in depictions of military operations in the Call of Duty games.  AMG … Continue reading →

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Mock magazine cover doesn’t infringe, dilute, advertise falsely even if targeted at competitor

Posted on June 6, 2019 by rtushnet

Ebony Media Operations, LLC v. Univision Communications Inc., No. 18-cv-11434-AKH (S.D.N.Y. Jun. 3, 2019) Judge Hellerstein called the question presented “interesting,” but an even better adjective would be “easy”: “whether, in the case of a famous magazine trademark, a competitor-magazine … Continue reading →

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Mock magazine cover doesn’t infringe, dilute, advertise falsely even if targeted at competitor

Posted on June 6, 2019 by rtushnet

Ebony Media Operations, LLC v. Univision Communications Inc., No. 18-cv-11434-AKH (S.D.N.Y. Jun. 3, 2019) Judge Hellerstein called the question presented “interesting,” but an even better adjective would be “easy”: “whether, in the case of a famous magazine trademark, a competitor-magazine … Continue reading →

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The Consumer “Right To Know” Versus the First Amendment

Posted on June 4, 2019 by rtushnet

Panel II at the Abrams Institute’s conference Moderator: Jonah Knobler, Partner, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler: recent attempts to do things like require disclosure of child labor in manufacturing process, and related consumer protection cases arguing that failure to disclose … Continue reading →

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major beer battle turns on Mead (Johnson)

Posted on May 31, 2019 by rtushnet

Long post, lots of stuff to cover in this opinion. MillerCoors, LLC v. Anheuser-Busch Cos., No. 19-cv-218-wmc (W.D. Wisc. May 24, 2019) There’s an apocryphal ad story about a cannery stuck with unmarketable pale salmon that turned its disadvantage around … Continue reading →

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