Court Dismisses Trademark Suit Against Review Site

screengrabA federal court has dismissed a trademark infringement lawsuit brought by plastic surgery company Lifestyle Lift against the Web site InfomercialScams.com, which hosted consumers' negative comments about the company.

Judge Arthur Tarnow in Detroit ruled that InfomercialScams had not violated Lifestyle Lift's trademark because consumers weren't likely to confuse the plastic surgery company with InfomercialScams.com, according to InformercialScams' lawyer Paul Alan Levy of Public Citizen.

Lifestyle Lift brought suit last October, alleging that the site's owner, Arizona bodybuilder Justin Leonard, incorporated the company's name in InfomercialScams' coding in order to drive search traffic to the site. InfomercialScams.com has an entire section devoted to complaints about Lifestyle Lift, which incorporates the company's name in the url (www.infomercialscams.com/scams/lifestyle_lift_complaints/start/20.)

Dozens of disappointed patients complained about Lifestyle Lift on the site. "I got suckered in, paid the money, and got zip, zilch, nada, nothing in return, except a bad facelift/no facelift, no improvement in my neck, no improvement in my eyes whatsoever, pain in my cheekbone and temple on the right side and a big load of disappointment," wrote one. "In all, at minimum I feel mutilated and defrauded," said another.

InformercialScams.com argued in its motion to dismiss the case that Lifestyle Lift had alleged a "phony" trademark claim in order to "harass defendants for giving dissatisfied customers a forum to criticize a cosmetic surgery firm."

"This court should not tolerate this baseless attempt to use litigation to accomplish this improper purpose of suppressing critical commentary," the company argued.

This case marks one of several lawsuits Lifestyle Lift has brought against Web sites that host negative reviews. In one pending case against RealSelf.com, the site countersuedLifestyle Lift for breach of contract and computer fraud for allegedly directing its agents to pose as patients and post good reviews of the company's procedures on the site. An attorney representing Lifestyle Lift said in that case that it wasn't suing because of comments on the site, but because RealSelf.com allegedly displayed ads for doctors who falsely indicated they were affiliated with Lifestyle Lift.

Levy said Lifestyle Lift's lawsuit show a pattern of trying to use trademark law to silence detractors. He now intends to ask the court to sanction Lifestyle Lift for having brought the case. "They're abusing the trademark law to find a way to bring suits which threaten to be expensive in hopes that they can intimidate critical speakers."

A lawyer for Lifestyle Lift said the company is considering whether it will appeal.

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