False Advertising - Court Remedies can be Inventive
Author:
Rockliffs Solicitors and IP Lawyers
Publish Date: July 12, 2010
A manufacturer making misleading claims about the origins of some of its food products had to make a striking correction on the home page of its website.
The company had claimed on packaging and in newspaper advertisements that its cheese came from the south west of Western Australia. Wrapping contained the words "Fresh from South West" and "Truly 100% Western Australian owned". The cheese was actually produced in Victoria.
As well as apologies in newspapers, penalties imposed by the court included corrective advertising on the company's website. The court ordered that the company publish on its home page for a period of 90 days a specified statement about the breach (with the heading 'By Order of the Federal Court of Australia'). It had to be viewable immediately upon accessing the website, include the company's logo and make up at least 40 per cent of the images on the screen.
Reproduced with the permission of the Law Society of New South Wales.
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