WeightWatchers takes supplement company to court

The weight-loss services provider Weight Watchers International is suing Florida-based supplement company USA Prescriptions for placing unauthorised pop-up ads for diet drugs on the WeightWatchers website.

Weight Watchers International, the leading provider of weight-loss services, and its affiliated licensee WeightWatchers.com, are suing a Florida-based supplement company, USA Prescriptions, for placing unauthorised pop-up advertisements for diet drugs on the WeightWatchers.com website.

Diet drug pop-up ads for DiscreetDrugs.com, owned and operated by USA Prescriptions, recently began appearing on the WeightWatchers.com website offering "low prices" and "express delivery" for diet drugs such as Phentermine, Adipex, Didrex, and Meridia, said WeightWatchers. It added that it has asked USA Prescriptions to halt its activities without success.

The case filed in the US District Court charges that the pop-up ads infringe on the Weight Watchers trademarks, dilute the company's rights in those marks, and systematically and unlawfully trade on the widely known and highly regarded Weight Watchers brand.

Weight Watchers is claiming that the ads compromise Weight Watchers' reputation and deceive consumers by inferring the company's endorsement of diet drugs and DiscreetDrugs.com.

Weight-loss drugs are not part of the Weight Watchers programme, and it maintains that the treatment of obesity with drugs is a medical decision best made between a patient and a doctor. The company's website, WeightWatchers.com, does not therefore accept advertising from weight-loss drugs, added the company.

"These ads contradict Weight Watchers' position on diet drugs," said Robert Hollweg, chief counsel at Weight Watchers International. "They do not belong on our site and their presence is illegal, deceptive and confusing," he said.

"These marketing tactics are brazen as they are reckless," said Linda Webb Carilli, general manager of Public Affairs at Weight Watchers. "These violations threaten our ethical standards and the consumer trust Weight Watchers has earned throughout its 40 years in business," she said.

Weight Watchers International claims to be the world's leading provider of weight-loss services, operating in 30 countries around the world. Each week more than one million members attend approximately 39,000 Weight Watchers meetings around the world. The website delivers the weight-loss brand's message, information, and tools to meeting members and self-help dieters through the Internet.