FTC Eyes Contact Lens Trademark Settlement Agreements

Over a spirited dissent, and in a 3-1 decision issued on November 14, the FTC Commissioners held that 1-800 Contacts violated Section 5 of the FTC Action by entering into settlement agreements with competitors that (1) harmed consumers in the online sale of contact lenses and (2) harmed search engines by artificially reducing the prices paid for online advertisements. The settlement agreements at issue resolved allegations by 1-800 Contacts that its competitors were infringing upon its trademark by bidding on paid search advertising with 1-800 Contacts’ trademark as keywords.  Search engines hold auctions for ads placed as results of certain search terms, and the settlement agreements prohibited competitors from bidding on keywords containing 1-800 Contacts’ trademark and also required competitors, when applicable, to employ 1-800 Contacts’ trademark as a “negative keyword” (which prevents competitors’ ads from populating the results of…

Read more detail on Recent Advertising Law posts –

This entry was posted in Advertising Law and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply