Murad has filed an unfair business practices lawsuit against CVS for what it says is the unauthorized selling of diverted and defaced Murad products in CVS stores and on CVS.com, the skincare company announced June 8.
In the lawsuit, Murad alleges that because CVS has no authorized relationship with it, CVS secretly diverts Murad products from unknown sources to sell Murad’s highly sought-after products in CVS stores and on www.CVS.com.
Murad also alleges in the lawsuit that many of its products sold by CVS have been defaced—that they have been stripped of Murad’s quality-control tracking features such as hologram-protection seals and unique batch codes.
According to Murad, the tracking features are used to help prevent tampering and protect the public from counterfeit goods, health risks and other potentially serious harms—and to help customers communicate back to Murad about the products that they purchased.
In addition, in the lawsuit Murad seeks an injunction to stop CVS from continuing to engage in such conduct so that the public can be protected and that the integrity of the Murad brand can be safeguarded.
“Murad is dedicated to providing its consumers with the best possible products,” said Richard Murad, general manager for Murad. “When you buy a Murad product from an authorized retailer either domestically or internationally, you know the product has been subjected to Murad’s top-notch quality-control procedures and that it meets the high standards of the founder, Howard Murad, M.D, FAAD. Our relationships with authorized retailers such as Sephora, ULTA, Nordstrom, Massage Envy and numerous spas and salons around the world validate our mission to deliver high-quality merchandise to the consumer through trusted retail outlets. This will not change, and on principle we will continue to take unrelenting legal action against anyone who threatens Murad’s brand integrity or otherwise poses a risk to the public by defacing the quality-control features we put on our products.”
Murad notes in the complaint that it has identified various instances where CVS has violated Murad’s copyright by reproducing images and text from www.Murad.com to advertise diverted Murad products on www.CVS.com. Murad additionally alleges in the complaint that as of the filing date of the lawsuit it appears that CVS is selling more than 40 Murad products on CVS.com and in certain brick-and-mortar CVS stores across the United States.
As of the end of the business day (EDT, where CVS is based) on June 11, CVS officials had not commented publicly on the lawsuit.
[Image courtesy of Murad]