Oprah Winfrey Sues Resveratrol Seller

Oprah Winfrey's company Harpo has filed suit against FWM Labs for allegedly misleading consumers to think she endorsed their supposed anti-aging products

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Anyone who surfs the Web has probably seen the ads featuring Oprah Winfrey and her resident on-air physician, Dr. Mehmet Oz. "For a limited time only, we are giving away two 100% risk-free trials of the best resveratrol product on the internet," read one recent ad, referring to a red-wine extract that some supplement makers believe has life-extending powers.

The ad included a large photo of Oz and said "I take resveratrol myself, and love it." The words "as seen on Oprah" were included on a banner at the bottom of the ad. It turned out neither Winfrey nor Oz endorsed the product, and the so-called free trial was anything but free for many of the consumers who fell for the marketing ploy. The ads trapped thousands of customers into expensive monthly subscriptions for resveratrol and other supplements, such as acai, a Brazilian berry extract that has been credited with promoting weight loss.

It appears Winfrey and Oz have had enough of their names and likenesses being used to mislead consumers. On Aug. 19, Oz and Winfrey's production company, Harpo Entertainment Group, filed suit against more than 50 Web marketers of nutritional supplements. The numerous allegations include trademark and copyright infringement, false endorsement, and "cybersquatting"—the use of domain names that are "confusingly similar" to those used by Winfrey and Oz, the complaint says. The supplements are sold through sites with names such as www.drozadvice.com and www.oprahdietsecret.com.

Many of the ads include clips of Oz and Winfrey talking generally about acai and resveratrol—but not endorsing any products in particular. Implying that they did sanction certain products is illegal, says Marc Rachman, an attorney with Davis & Gilbert in New York, which is handling the suit. "They are not authorized to use clips from the show. They are not authorized to use the names and likenesses" of Winfrey and Oz, Rachman says. "The ads are purporting to talk in Dr. Oz's voice. Customers thought he was endorsing these supplements. This is deceptive and it is a false endorsement."

The lead defendant named in the suit is FWM Laboratories of Hollywood, Fla., which sells Resveratrol Ultra, Acai Berry Detox, and other supplements. Customers have complained to the Better Business Bureau that FWM makes it difficult to return products, and the company continues to charge their credit cards long after they cancel. FWM is currently under investigation by the Florida Attorney General's economic crimes division.

FWM Blames Its Affiliates

FWM's CEO Brian Weiss was not available to comment, a company spokeswoman said Aug. 20. But in an interview earlier this summer, Weiss told BusinessWeek that he didn't write his own ads. Instead, he said, he worked through networks of "affiliates," which he paid to spread the word about FWM's products through Google (GOOG), Yahoo! (YHOO), and other sites. Weiss said that his employees kept an eye out for inappropriate celebrity endorsements and he asked the affiliates to pull those ads. He declined to name the ad affiliates FWM uses, because "we don't want our competitors to know who we deal with."