COPEAC GETS NAILED BY THE FTC

Jon

Jon

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COPEAC ie. INTERMARK MEDIA has been nailed by the FTC on Wed April 13th 2011.

Here:

http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/04/14/FakeNews.pdf

Will post the official FTC link shortly.

Rumors are flying now that the FTC is also filing to go after the affiliates/publishers that some folks claim COPEAC has offered in an effort to offset the suit filed against them, but were denied? I dunno, I hope that's not true, but what the FTC wants, the FTC gets. So we'll see...

I guess putting yourself up on that Brand Protection board wasn't such a smart idea after all, eh? :/
 


is this relevant:
oh-noes-everybody-panic.gif
 
A question here, is why acai, why not biz opp, penny auction, teeth, wrinkle or any of the other major niches. The FTC seems quite focused on diet first. I wonder if this is just the beginning and they`re going niche by niche or is this just a nice warning, of hey clean your shit up, before they start to fuck everyone else royally....
 
mattaw said:
A question here, is why acai, why not biz opp, penny auction, teeth, wrinkle or any of the other major niches. The FTC seems quite focused on diet first. I wonder if this is just the beginning and they`re going niche by niche or is this just a nice warning, of hey clean your shit up, before they start to fuck everyone else royally....
Click to expand...

It's pretty much whatever is getting the most complaints or whatever the FTC decides they want to go after next. This isn't the beginning, they have been doing this for years. They put out guidelines and rules, nobody takes notice, they hit some big cases then it gets quiet again and they start over.
 
mattaw said:
A question here, is why acai, why not biz opp, penny auction, teeth, wrinkle or any of the other major niches. The FTC seems quite focused on diet first. I wonder if this is just the beginning and they`re going niche by niche or is this just a nice warning, of hey clean your shit up, before they start to fuck everyone else royally....
Click to expand...

Why not tell the teacher she forgot to give the class homework...
 
penguinbc said:
It's pretty much whatever is getting the most complaints or whatever the FTC decides they want to go after next. This isn't the beginning, they have been doing this for years. They put out guidelines and rules, nobody takes notice, they hit some big cases then it gets quiet again and they start over.
Click to expand...

I can't give legal advice, and am not a lawyer /end disclaimer/

I'm just repeating what my lawyer said today, when we talked about all of this. To be honest, the message I got from him is this is becoming a more prevalent issue for the FTC right now. You're probably right in the fact that it'll set and example and quiet down, but how many examples. What stood out to him/me is that a few of the pubs named so far, are not HUGE pubs, they're mid level "average" publishers. Usually in the past when they set an example they go for the biggest guys to set a standard for the whole industry. I may be completely wrong, but that's just my take semi-informed take.
 
mattaw said:
I can't give legal advice, and am not a lawyer /end disclaimer/

I'm just repeating what my lawyer said today, when we talked about all of this. To be honest, the message I got from him is this is becoming a more prevalent issue for the FTC right now. You're probably right in the fact that it'll set and example and quiet down, but how many examples. What stood out to him/me is that a few of the pubs named so far, are not HUGE pubs, they're mid level "average" publishers. Usually in the past when they set an example they go for the biggest guys to set a standard for the whole industry. I may be completely wrong, but that's just my take semi-informed take.
Click to expand...

Maybe that is exactly the message they want to send. You don't need to be a "HUGE" pub, they will go after anyone. Seems like a more effective way to get your point across that's for sure.

I know I said it in the other thread but I'd like to see them go after the ad agencies like sonar, pulse and the rest that are responsible for 90% of the ads that get shown to consumers. Knocking some people down for this without going after the ad agencies approving these ads is not going to do anything but have other people with the same ads and pages take their place in the rotation. Hit the big ad agencies that approve these and that will cause them to get more serious with their ad approvals, drive bids back down, and we won't be having these problems anymore. The ad agencies are the ones responsible for what ads and pages get shown to consumers, they have ad approval teams already in place, if they start to think that they may get some blame on this they will quickly change their approval process and that's what the industry really needs right now. If the FTC wants those big settlement numbers and to actually make a difference then the ad agencies are a great place to start, not going to get that with these random average affiliate marketers.
 
Or maybe the FTC is figuring out the best way to prosecute, or settle, these cases by going after the small fish as test cases. Once they have found a template that they know the courts will accept and rule in their favor, they will get the big boys.

Who knows, maybe the FTC read an article on split testing and scaling here on WF...
 
FTC hasn't posted anything on their website yet about any of these, I wonder if that means anything.
 
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