against four companies using “spyware” to place pop-up advertising on llbean.com.
The four complaints, each filed separately in Portland, ME, name Nordstrom, JC Penney, Atkins, and Gevalia.
“Online pop-up practices of this sort are not only a source of interference and irritation to consumers trying to navigate the web, but they also cross the line of fair business practices by infringing upon the L.L.Bean trademark,” says L.L.Bean’s president and CEO Chris McCormick in a statement.
According to Freeport, ME-based L.L. Bean, common to each complaint is the use of software developed by Claria, a company specializing in the deployment of spyware onto the computers of Web users in order to track an individual’s on-line activity.
“It’s bad enough that there are companies out there wantonly poaching consumer activity on our site and redirecting it to themselves,” said Mary Lou Kelley, L.L.Bean’s vice president of e- commerce in a statement. “But even worse is the fact that our reputation is injured by a consumer perception that suggests L.L.Bean is authorizing these activities or is even receiving compensation for it.”
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