Q-Ray Bracelet’s Claims Are Totally Dishonest, Court Finds

Agreeing with the trial court’s finding that the Q-Ray Ionized Bracelet’s “promotion has been thoroughly dishonest,” the Seventh Circuit has upheld a $16 million judgment and injunction against the promoter.

The court agreed that the Federal Trade Commission provided sufficient evidence to require the company to disgorge the $16 million in profits that the Defendants received even though the FTC lawyer forgot to put the balance sheets underlying the calculation into evidence.

“Defendants’ business was a profitable one; that much, at least, they concede. (It is so profitable that they continue to carry it on despite the injunction that requires them to stop making most of their old claims for its efficacy. Today it is sold with testimonials and vaporous statements.),” the Seventh Circuit wrote.

The appellate court found that “WIRED Magazine recently put the Q-Ray Ionized Bracelet on its list of the top ten Snake-Oil Gadgets.” Among the claims and representations by Q-Ray were:

• The bracelet is a miraculous cure for chronic pain but in fact it has no therapeutic effect.
• Consumers were told that claims of “immediate, significant or complete pain relief” had been “test-proven,” when they had not been. – The bracelet does not emit “Q-Rays”-there is no such thing. It is not ionized.
• The bracelet has a “memory cycle specific to each individual wearer” so that only the bracelet’s original wearer can experience pain relief.

The statement was designed to eliminate sales in the second-hand market, thus “explaining” the otherwise-embarrassing fact that the buyer’s friends and neighbors can’t perceive any effect. The bracelet was primarily sold through television infomercials that promised a 30-day return period. Buyers were encouraged to purchase online, but the website provided only a 10-day return period, a practice that the court also found “deceived reasonable persons who relied on what the infomercials told them.”

Federal Trade Commission v. QT, Inc., Q-Ray Company, Bio-Metal, Inc. and Que Te Park, Seventh Cir. No. 07-1662 (Published January 3, 2008)