BTL Files Suit Against Allergan, Alleges Misleading Advertising

In a new lawsuit filed this week, BTL Industries alleges that Allergan launched a wide-ranging false and misleading advertising campaign relating to BTL's EMSCULPT device for non-invasive muscle toning and body shaping. The suit alleges that Allergan's marketing, sales materials, and social media advertising feature numerous deceptive comparisons of Allergan's CoolTone product to EMSCULPT, and misrepresent Allergan's product as having performance advantages compared to EMSCULPT. 

The lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the District of Delawarenames Allergan plc, Allergan USA, Inc., Allergan, Inc., and Zeltiq Aesthetics, Inc. It seeks a court order halting Allergan's advertising, and requests corrective marketing and advertising, damages, and attorneys' fees. In previous lawsuits, BTL asserts that the Cooltone device, manufactured by Zimmer for Allergan, infringes on BTL's United States patents. 

BTL says it has presented tests as part of the lawsuit that show that Allergan's product and BTL's EMSCULPT have on average substantially equivalent magnetic intensity at the point of patient contact and alleges that statements about magnetic intensity are misleading when they imply that magnetic intensity is a measure of power or efficacy. 

Testing presented in the lawsuit shows that the EMSCULPT device, when averaging abdomen, buttocks and leg therapies, induces up to 56 percent more electrical current into the target tissue than Allergan's product, BTL says.

"While BTL welcomes fair competition and competitive advertising, it was the egregious and misleading nature of their marketing that compelled us to file this lawsuit," says Filip Donner, Director of BTL Industries. "Long before bringing their product to the market, Allergan knowingly made false, deceptive, and misleading descriptions of fact concerning the nature, characteristics, and qualities of the EMSCULPT device as compared to their product."