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Just when you thought you had heard the last
of FTC vs. Alpine, IE Connections has learned
that the Federal Trade Commission and the
Department of Justice planned to file a motion in
Federal Court early this month to hold Alpine
Industries, its president William J. Converse,
its vice president Michael Jackson, and a related
company, EcoQuest International, all of
Greeneville, Tenn., in civil contempt of a court
order issued in January 2000. IE Connections had
received several e-mails from Alpine distributors
claiming an injunction against Alpine was
yesterday's news. Clearly, that isn't the case.
The government is asking the Court to order
Alpine, Converse, Jackson, and EcoQuest to stop
making prohibited claims in marketing their air
cleaning products, remove prohibited product
claims from their websites, and impose daily
fines if they continue to violate the order.
In January, a federal judge ordered Alpine, a
manufacturer of ozone generating air treatment
machines, and Converse to stop claiming that
their machines provide relief from any medical
condition or that they effectively remove or
reduce a wide variety of air pollutants from
indoor environments. The injunction followed a
verdict last November in which a federal jury
found unanimously that Alpine Industries and
Converse violated a 1995 FTC order by failing to
have "competent and reliable scientific
evidence" to support hundreds of claims for
their air cleaning products. Alpine was also
found to make unsupported claims that its
products control indoor ozone levels.
The government's motion alleges that Alpine and
Converse have violated the January order by
making prohibited claims about their ozone
generators. The government also alleges that
Jackson and EcoQuest, although not specifically
named in the order, are bound by its terms
because of their involvement with Alpine and
Converse and their role in violating the order.
Shortly after the court's January order, Alpine
sold its marketing operations to Jackson and
EcoQuest International, a new corporation.
Alpine Industries is a privately held,
multi-level marketing company that claims to have
between 75,000 and 100,000 active dealers
nationwide. Its main facilities are in Greene
County, Tenn. Converse is the company's president
and chief executive officer. Michael Jackson is
vice president and heads the company's marketing
activities, which are now run by him through EcoQuest. The flagship product of Alpine
Industries is the XL-15, which sells for
approximately $600 per unit.
For more information on the case, visit the FTC
website at www.ftc.gov.
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