Balough
December 11, 2020
(December 11, 2020) Whether customers are deceived by a label that says the product is “100% Grated Parmesan Cheese” is a fact issue that cannot be decided on a motion to dismiss, the Seventh Circuit found. The appellate court reversed the trial court’s dismissal of the case when the lower court ruled as a matter […]
Balough
December 26, 2017
(December 26, 2017) A hotel reseller booking site has agreed to stop practices that led customers to believe they were booking rooms on the actual hotel site when in fact the customers were not. When booking with the reseller, customers had their credit cards charged in advance, could not avail themselves of the hotel’s cancellation […]
Balough
December 14, 2016
(December 15, 2016) The website designed to help adults have discrete affairs agreed to settle charges concerning its lack of adequate data security that exposed 36 million of its accounts to hackers in 2015. AshleyMadison.com and its operating companies settled charges that they deceived consumers by claiming their data was secure and, that if they […]
Balough
October 12, 2016
(October 12, 2016) A multi-national tech support group of companies, which used deceptive pop-up ads to scare consumers into believing their computers were infected, has been temporarily shut down by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The companies, which generally operate under the name Global Access Technical Support, use pop-up ads sometimes with a loud alarm […]
Balough
August 14, 2016
(August 14, 2016) Culver may have had a cow over Steak n Shake’s copycat television commercial, but a federal judge found the original commercial lacked “the necessary modicum of creativity to give rise to copyright protection” required for a copyright infringement lawsuit. Culver Franchising System, Inc. developed a commercial with a white-aproned butcher touting the quality […]
Balough
February 23, 2016
(February 23, 2016) The maker of ASUS home routers deceived customers when it claimed the devices could protect consumers’ local networks from attack. Instead, the company failed to employ reasonable security practices causing “substantial injury” to consumers, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) found. ASUSTeK Computer, Inc., has agreed to an FTC consent order that requires […]
Balough
January 5, 2016
(Jan. 5, 2016) It was a no brainer for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to charge the owner and marketer of the Lumosity brain-training program with deceiving customers through unsupported claims. Lumos Labs, Inc. d/b/a Lumosity, along with its co-founder and its chief scientific officer, agreed to pay $2 million in penalties and will notify […]
Balough
December 28, 2015
(December 28, 2015) Online users must be clearly warned when viewing “native advertising.” If not, the advertiser may be engaging in prohibited deceptive advertising, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns. In a new “Native Advertising A Guide for Businesses,” the FTC notes that “advertisers are responsible for ensuring that native ads are identifiable as advertising […]
Balough
November 17, 2015
(November 17, 2015) The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is continuing its crackdown on dietary supplement marketers who cannot substantiate their health claims. The latest target is Sunrise Nutraceuticals, LLC. The company markets supplements that “purportedly increase the likelihood that a person will complete opiate withdrawal successfully and overcome opiate addiction.” However, the FTC alleges in […]
Balough
March 5, 2015
One Supreme Court Justice is ready to hear a case on whether online purchasers should pay a use tax regardless of where the seller is located. Currently, states can collect taxes only if the seller has a “presence” in the state—a holding Justice Anthony Kennedy apparently wants reversed. Justice Kennedy expressed his strong view in […]
