Common Contracts
1 similar Trademark Settlement Agreements contracts
ContractTrademark Settlement Agreements • August 17th, 2021
Between 2004 and 2013, Petitioner 1-800 Contacts, Inc. (“1-800”) entered into thirteen trademark settlement agreements and one sourcing and services agreement with competitors (the “Challenged Agreements”). As explained below, the Challenged Agreements contained provisions restricting specific terms on which the parties could “bid” when participating in auctions held by companies that operate search engines. By restricting bidding on terms in these auctions, the competitors agreed not to advertise their products when consumers used the search engines’ platforms to search the specific terms at issue. In August 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or the “Commission”) issued an administrative complaint against Petitioner, alleging that the Challenged Agreements and Petitioner’s enforcement of the agreements unreasonably restrain truthful, non-misleading advertising as well as price competition in search advertising auctions in violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act, 15
