Enjoy moves news? Please take this one-question survey to let us know how you’d like to read Career Tracker.
|
A new ruling from the 11th Circuit is a good reminder that if you want to bring a Lanham Act lawsuit alleging that your business was hurt by a competitor’s false advertising, you have to be able to show that you were actually in competition. Cybersecurity company TocMail claimed that Microsoft’s allegedly deceptive representations about the anti-phishing capabilities of its email filtering product cost TocMail at least $9.5 billion — yes, with a b — because TocMail was Microsoft’s only rival in the market. But the 11th Circuit said TocMail failed to offer any proof that it was, in fact, a market rival — no testimony from a confused customer, no expert report on customer attitudes, not even evidence that TocMail broadly marketed its competing product or made a single sale. Alison Frankel writes that she has long been interested in Lanham Act litigation as a complement (or alternative) to consumer fraud class actions. But like consumers, she says, businesses have to prove they were injured.
Check out other recent pieces from all our columnists: Alison Frankel, Jenna Greene and Hassan Kanu
|
