Life Information Services Co., Ltd. made false and misleading presentations in a flier with respect to the substance of its services
Case:
Life Information Services Co., Ltd. made false and misleading presentations in a flier with respect to the substance of its services
Key Words:
endorsement, Police-Citizen Link System
Reference:
Fair Trade Commission Decision of February 22, 2001 (the 485th Commissioners' Meeting); Letter (90) Kung San Tzu No. 8914463-004 and Disposition (90) Kung Ch'u Tzu No. 040
Industry:
Information Provision Services Industry (7503)
Relevant Law:
Article 21 of the Fair Trade Law
Summary:
1. In November 2000, the Fair Trade Commission (the FTC) received a letter from the Taipei Municipal Police Department (TMPD) alleging that in the "An Hsin Jiu Jiu" flier for the Police-Citizen Link System product, Life Information Services Co. (Life) printed the words "Endorsed By The Taipei Municipal Police Department." The TMPD said however that it had neither organized explanatory meetings nor given endorsements for suppliers of such systems and that Life had not obtained authorization or permission from it. The TMPD questioned whether Life was in violation of the Fair Trade Law. 2. Findings by the FTC were as follows: At an annual demonstration meeting organized by police stations in Taipei, those invited to attend included station chiefs, borough chiefs, community patrol leaders, and community management committees. Also invited to attend was Life, which displayed and introduced its products, and, as a way of lessening the financial burden on citizens, offered "free monthly charges." The FTC found, however, that the Police-Citizen Link System product did not feature an endorsement letter from the TMPD. Subsequently, on 28 November 2000, Life reprinted the aforesaid flier without the offending words "Endorsed By The Taipei Municipal Police Department." 3. Life's receipt of an invitation to attend the said meeting does not necessarily mean that the TMPD endorses citizens' use of Life's products or services. Therefore the original flier constituted a false and misleading presentation in violation of Fair Trade Law Article 21(3), which applies mutates mutandis pursuant to Fair Trade Law Article 21(1). Even though Life reprinted the flier minus the offending words, after defending itself before the FTC, since the allegations of the TMPD had been filed with the FTC in November 2000, its redress afterwards do not affect the existing illegality of the offending words printed in the original flier. Appendix: Life Information Services Co., Ltd.'s Uniform Invoice Number: 16616586 Summarized by Lai, Mei-Hua; Supervised by Wu, T. H.