The complaints accuse retailers Nordstrom, JC Penney, Atkins Nutritionals and Gevalia Kaffee of trading on the L.L.Bean name through their use of pop-up ad technology from the controversial behavioural marketing company Claria Corporation (previously known as Gator).
Claria is well known in the internet community for its software, which delivers pop-up ads on behalf of its clients to third-party web sites without permission from the operators of those sites.
The software examines keywords, URLs and search terms in use on the user's browser and then selects which ads to display to that user. These ads often refer to competitors of the site being visited.
LL Bean and Claria are already embroiled in litigation, following Claria's filing of a declaratory action asking the court to confirm, among other things, that its software does not infringe on any LL Bean trade mark. The suits announced on Monday target companies that allegedly make use of Claria's service.
"On-line pop-up practices of this sort are not only a source of interference and irritation to consumers trying to navigate the web, but they also cross the line of fair business practices by infringing upon the L.L Bean trade mark," said LL Bean's President and CEO, Chris McCormick. "The complaint filed in district court today is designed to put a stop to anyone who is trading on the LL Bean trade mark, and to relieve consumers of this highly invasive and objectionable form of advertising."
"Reputable marketers like LL Bean are doubly victimised by this parasitic form of marketing," said Mary Lou Kelley, L.L Bean's Vice President of E-Commerce. "It's bad enough that there are companies out there wantonly poaching consumer activity on our site and redirecting it to themselves. But even worse is the fact that our reputation is injured by a consumer perception that suggests LL Bean is authorising these activities or is even receiving compensation for it."
