U.S. judge will not block Intuit TurboTax ads that FTC found deceptive -Breaking
[ad_1]
© Reuters. A Intuit office in San Diego is seen August 21, 2015, as shown by Reuters. According to Intuit software, tax preparation software manufacturer reported that fourth-quarter expenses increased 17 percent. They also predicted an adjusted quarter loss. Intuit, too Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters] – On Friday, a U.S. court refused to block TurboTax makers Ituit Inc (NASDAQ:), which ran advertisements for tax filings “free”, that, the Federal Trade Commission stated deceived many taxpayers.
For three reasons, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco refused to grant the FTC a preliminary injunction.
Breyer concluded that the potential for future harm was “attenuated” by the fact that the April 18 deadline to file taxes has passed. Most taxpayers have already filed their taxes and Intuit has almost finished its advertising for the tax season.
Intuit was also found to have removed several deceptive ads. Some of these repeated the phrase “free” more than a dozen times, sometimes in less time than 30 seconds.
Breyer also stated that an FTC administrative judge will be reviewing Intuit’s advertising practices during a Sept. 14, hearing and may rule before Intuit resumes its ad campaigns.
FTC could return to court, if Intuit resumes posting its ads in front of the administrative law judge.
The FTC spokesperson declined to comment. Intuit’s lawyers didn’t immediately reply to our requests for comment.
The FTC stated that Intuit was based in Mountain View and ran some of these challenged ads during this years’s Super Bowl, NCAA college basketball tournament.
The FTC sued TurboTax on March 28, claiming that about two-thirds (gig workers, people with farm income) could not access TurboTax’s no cost product, despite advertising slogans like “TurboTax free is free.” TurboTax is free and available for free.
FTC enforces the antitrust laws and prohibits deceptive advertising.
[ad_2]