While 2020 was an eventful year in the world of advertising law, it feels wrong to begin any type of “year in review” without acknowledging the global events of this year, and the challenges they have brought to every...more
1/13/2021
/ Advertising ,
Appeals ,
Appellate Courts ,
Class Action ,
Counterfeiting ,
Disgorgement ,
False Advertising ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Food Labeling ,
Lanham Act ,
Marketing ,
Product Labels ,
Romag Fasteners v Fossil ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
The beverage industry came out on top in a pair of recently dismissed lawsuits alleging the use of the term “vanilla” on drink labels was misleading, where the vanilla flavor allegedly did not come exclusively from the...more
Judge Alison Nathan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently dismissed with prejudice a putative class action alleging Starbucks misrepresented itself as a “premium” coffee retailer. In doing...more
NPR and PBS recently released an attention-grabbing investigation titled “How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled.” According to the investigation, beginning in the late 1980s, “big oil” began...more
12/4/2020
/ Advertising ,
Class Action ,
Class Representatives ,
Environmental Claims ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Green Guides ,
Labeling ,
Marketing ,
NAD ,
Plastics ,
Recycling ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Unjust Enrichment
Conagra Brands recently emerged victorious when Judge William H. Orrick of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted summary judgment in its favor, tossing claims that the company disguises the...more
In a recent post, we summarized recent developments in litigation and legislative activity concerning whether online marketplaces may be directly liable for the sale of defective and counterfeit products on their platforms....more
Consumers are doing more and more shopping online. But when a consumer buys a product that is defective or counterfeit, are online marketplaces liable for misconduct by third-party sellers?
E-commerce platforms have...more
Judge Raag Singhal of the Southern District of Florida recently granted Burger King’s motion to dismiss a putative class action challenging its advertising for its plant-based “Impossible Burger,” and its motion to deny class...more
9/2/2020
/ Advertising ,
Breach of Contract ,
Burger King ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Consumer Fraud ,
Food Marketing ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Unjust Enrichment
Judge Paul C. Huck of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida recently granted a motion to dismiss brought by Defendants The Fresh Market and Tyson Fresh Meats in a putative consumer class action alleging...more
After the recent dismissal of nearly identical claims, the same consumer plaintiffs have once again been thwarted in their attempt to challenge labeling and advertising that supposedly misleads consumers into believing the...more
In a decision issued on June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a generic word combined with “.com,” such as Booking.com, is entitled to federal registration if consumers perceive the combined mark as a non-generic brand...more
7/1/2020
/ Acquired Distinctiveness ,
Appeals ,
Booking.com ,
Domain Name Registration ,
Domain Names ,
Generic Marks ,
Lanham Act ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
United States Patent and Trademark Office v Booking.com BV ,
USPTO
Last month, the Seventh Circuit reversed a district court’s decision preliminarily enjoining Anheuser-Busch from making various advertising claims related to the absence of corn syrup in Bud Light, including that Bud Light...more
6/17/2020
/ Anheuser-Busch ,
Beer ,
Beverage Manufacturers ,
Comparative Advertising ,
Consumer Confusion ,
Deceptive Intent ,
False Advertising ,
MillerCoors ,
Misleading Impressions ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
On April 8, 2020, Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted Ghirardelli Chocolate’s motion to dismiss a putative nationwide class action brought by several consumers...more
Last month, a Fifth Circuit panel vacated in part a judgment in a false advertising case that disgorged the defendant’s profits, awarded corrective advertising damages under the Lanham Act and enjoined the disputed claims....more
A Second Circuit panel recently affirmed the dismissal of a putative false advertising class action against Dunkin’ Brands, which alleged the company misled consumers as to the contents of products Dunkin’ described as “Angus...more
Under Section 1117(a) of the Trademark Act, courts may award the plaintiff's lost profits or the defendant's profits resulting from a violation of the statute. The Supreme Court decided today that while a defendant's mental...more
4/23/2020
/ Appeals ,
Calculation of Damages ,
Certiorari ,
Disgorgement ,
Lanham Act ,
Romag Fasteners v Fossil ,
SCOTUS ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks ,
Willful Infringement
National Beverage Corporation, the maker of the popular LaCroix sparkling water products, failed to obtain Rule 11 sanctions against a consumer plaintiff, but ultimately scored a major victory recently, when the plaintiff not...more
Judge Vernon Broderick of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently decided a motion to dismiss by luxury consignment goods reseller The RealReal (“TRR”) in an action brought by famous French...more
On February 6, the California Court of Appeals (Second Appellate District) sustained a lower court’s dismissal of a putative class action alleging that the claim “no sugar added” on the label of tangerine juice is deceptive...more
On January 31, 2020, Southern District of New York Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied Plaintiff Matthew Marotto’s motion for reconsideration of an order denying class certification in his lawsuit against Pringles potato chip...more
Last summer, we covered the Supreme Court’s decision to grant certiorari in Romag Fasteners v. Fossil in order to decide whether § 1117(a) of the Lanham Act requires that a plaintiff make a showing of willfulness in order to...more
We have previously written about decisions addressing food product labels, and the messages that these labels convey about the products’ ingredients. In Jessani v. Monini, the Second Circuit found that a product label for...more
8/29/2019
/ Breach of Warranty ,
Dismissals ,
Express Warranty ,
False Advertising ,
Food Manufacturers ,
Implied Warranties ,
Negligent Misrepresentation ,
Product Labels ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Unjust Enrichment
On Friday, June 28, 2019, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Romag Fasteners, Inc. v. Fossil, Inc. to decide whether a showing of willfulness is necessary to obtain a defendant’s profits under the Lanham Act....more
7/2/2019
/ Appeals ,
Calculation of Damages ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Damages ,
Disgorgement ,
Fashion Design ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Profits ,
Remand ,
Romag Fasteners v Fossil ,
SCOTUS ,
Split of Authority ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks ,
Willful Infringement
Several months ago we covered two Second Circuit decisions that addressed false advertising claims related to ingredients and product labeling of foods, which reached differing results. Applying similar principles, a recent...more
After Ninth Circuit review, it remains to be seen whether a nutritional supplement maker can claim that ginkgo biloba leaf extract and vinpocetine supplements improve “alertness,” “mental clarity, and memory” in the face of...more
4/10/2019
/ Advertising ,
Appeals ,
Class Action ,
CLRA ,
Dietary Supplements ,
False Advertising ,
Preponderance of the Evidence ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Scientific Evidence ,
Summary Judgment ,
Unfair Competition Law (UCL)