Rival vacuum makers square off in court again over false advertising claims
Rival vacuum makers square off in court again over false advertising claims
Dyson claimed its competitor violated the Lanham Act, which prohibits false advertising.
In its suit, Dyson has sought to put an end to SharkNinja’s tactics of claiming its product is better than Dyson’s model.
U.S. District Judge Joan Gottschall, in a recent ruling in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, noted the Lanham Act does not protect sellers from competition from better or cheaper products, but it does protect sellers “from having their customers lured away from them by deceptive ads.” She cited Schering-Plough Healthcare Prod. Inc. v. Schwarz Pharma Inc. as precedent.
Both sites filed cross-motions for summary judgment in the case.
Dyson launched its DC65 vacuum in the U.S. in January 2014. About six months later, SharkNinja began offering for sale on its website its NV650-series vacuums, which it also referred to as “Rotator Powered Lift-Away” vacuums. The packaging on the NV650 made direct claims against Dyson’s DC65. Specifically, the packaging stated, among other things, that it “Cleans carpets better vs. Dyson’s best vacuum proven by independent lab testing. Based on ASTM F608 in Turbo/Carpet Mode vs. Dyson DC65.”
SharkNinja also made claims about its vacuum on its website.
In October 2014, SharkNinja began airing a revised infomercial. In this one, the company’s CEO says, “In fact, my new Rotator Powered Lift-Away has more suction and deep cleans carpets better than Dyson’s best vacuum.” On the screen is “Shark deep cleans carpets better than Dyson’s best vacuum D65” and “SharkNV650.”
In addition to the infomercial, SharkNinja also ran print advertisements and short commercials.
Gottschall ruled on several points, including whether Intertek, a company that did testing for SharkNinja, was actually independent because of connections to the vacuum maker.
The court ruled that “a reasonable jury could conclude that Intertek was independent of Shark, so Dyson’s motion for summary judgment on this issue is denied.”
Dyson also contents it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law on its false advertising claim, because, as Dyson argues in its brief: “Shark has no independent testing to support its claim that the NV650 ‘deep cleans carpets better than the re-engineered Ball Multi-Floor, which became Dyson’s ‘best’ vacuum for carpet cleaning when it began selling in the market in April 2015.”
According to Gottschall, Dyson didn’t offer any evidence that Shark ever advertised that its vacuum was better than the Ball Multi-Floor. As a result, Dyson’s motion for summary judgment as to this issue was denied.
Finally, Dyson argued it is entitled to summary judgment on its false advertising claims against SharkNinja in July and August 2014.
In its claim, Dyson contends that SharkNinja didn’t have independent tests to prove the superiority of its vacuum over Dyson’s during this time period, because Shark did not receive the final report establishing that its vacuum was superior until Aug. 12, 2014.
Gottschall said Dyson didn’t provide evidence to support all of its claims.
Read full article and learn more about Deceptive Advertising here.
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