In late 2013, medical device manufacturer Zeltiq Aesthetics, Inc. filed a false advertising and unfair competition lawsuit against its competitor BTL Industries, Inc. in the Northern District of California. Shortly after that, Zeltiq filed a motion for a preliminary injunction asking the court to stop BTL from marketing and selling its Vanquish device. On behalf of our client BTL, Jeff Faucette successfully opposed the motion for preliminary injunction. Jeff has handled several false advertising and trademark infringement cases for clients in various industries, but regulated medical devices pose different issues in this context. The Court’s order denying the motion is available here.
Zeltiq continued, however, to pursue its claims against BTL, and following the close of discovery, Zeltiq filed a motion for partial summary judgment arguing that BTL’s sales of an FDA-cleared device were unlawful under certain provisions of California’s Health and Safety Code. Jeff again successfully opposed this motion, and the Court’s order denying it is available here.
The case was set for a bench trial to begin on June 15, 2015, but the parties reached a settlement to their mutual satisfaction, and Zeltiq dismissed all of its claims with prejudice on June 2. More information about BTL is available at www.btlaesthetics.us. Zeltiq is a publicly-traded company and it was represented by counsel at an Amlaw 100 firm. We were pleased to defend BTL successfully and efficiently throughout this matter so that it can continue to offer the Vanquish device to physicians.