State-law claims pre-empted; Lanham Act claims soldier
on
Pumped
A visit to the website of HBS International subsidiary Allmax is
an experience. Like many of its competitors, Allmax, which creates
diet and nutrition supplements for bodybuilders and other athletes,
boasts a hyperkinetic web presence ‒ gigantic sans-serif
fonts, vivid colors and slow-zoom effects that evoke the cinema of
Michael Bay.
However, compared to their hyperkinetic web presence, an
ingredients list on Allmax product labels seems nearly invisible.
But one such product landed Allmax and its parent company, HBS, in
Georgia's Northern District Court on claims of deceptive
advertising.
Lift-Off
Competitor Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals Inc. sued Allmax and HBS in 2016 for allegedly
misrepresenting the contents of Allmax's "Ultra-Premium
6-Protein Blend HexaPro," a protein-powder drink mix that
targets bodybuilders. Hi-Tech charged that HBS and Allmax violated
the Georgia Uniform Deceptive Trade
