Last week, actress and TV personality Mayim Bialik got a Florida federal court's help to remove CBD endorsements from the internet that she says use her name without her permission to promote their CBD products. The order blocks dozens of websites from mentioning Bialik in their CBD product promotions and comes just two weeks after Bialik filed a lawsuit for the misappropriation of her name and likeness.
Issued on Friday, the order granted Bialik a preliminary injunction and a temporary restraining order. In the order, the court held that has a strong probability of proving that the defendants' websites are engaged in a false advertising campaign that "deliberately and intentionally misappropriates Plaintiff's name, image, likeness, and/or persona," and that consumers are likely to be confused by the online marketing campaigns' wrongful association with Bialik.
The order states that because of the false advertising campaign, Bialik would be likely to suffer immediate and irreparable harm if a temporary restraining order were not granted. In addition to issuing a TRO, the order also authorizes Bialik to immediately issue subpoenas to the websites at issue and any other digital marketing publications, marketing companies, and CBD product companies who may be benefitting from the alleged false endorsements. Additionally, the court told the defendants to immediately discontinue any unauthorized use of Bialik's name, image, likeness, or persona in its advertisements, including in email addresses, links, domain name extensions, and search engine databases, among other forms of use.
In her original complaint, Bialik set forth allegations of false association and sponsorship, false advertising, and unauthorized appropriation of name or likeness in defendants' CBD product promotions through social media accounts and sponsored "news" stories. The advertising at issue includes allegedly false company names such as "Mayim Bialik CBD Gummies," "Mayim Bialik CBD Oil US," and "Mayim Bialik CBD," among others.
Bialik has previously used social media to clarify that she has never given permission for her name to be used in this way and does not plan on doing so in the future.
This alert provides general coverage of its subject area. We provide it with the understanding that Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz is not engaged herein in rendering legal advice, and shall not be liable for any damages resulting from any error, inaccuracy, or omission. Our attorneys practice law only in jurisdictions in which they are properly authorized to do so. We do not seek to represent clients in other jurisdictions.