A suit was filed on Friday in the Northern District of Ohio by the Federal Trade Commission against defendants Axis Led Group, LLC, ALG-Health LLC, and Adam J. Harmon. The complaint for permanent injunction, civil penalties, and other relief alleges that the defendants falsely marketed, labeled, and sold wholly imported Chinese lighting products and personal protective equipment, or products containing significant Chinese inputs, as being Made in the United States (MUSA).
Defendant ALG has marketed and sold LED lights, tubes, and fixtures since 2015. In 2016, they introduced a line called “Patriot Tubes,” as being MUSA, when they were actually Made in China and assembled in the United States. They stated on their website that their “advances in manufacturing processes and efficiency have finally allowed us to produce USA-made products at competitive prices.” After the FTC investigated the claims, defendant Harmon agreed to remove the MUSA label from all of the products that were unqualified for it.
Despite these claims made by Harmon, the defendants continued to market their products as MUSA when they were imported from China. The complaint contends that the defendants have even peeled off Made in China stickers and replaced them with MUSA labels. Since 2015, the plaintiff alleges that the defendants have “supplied hundreds of thousands of lights to consumers and the U.S. government that underwent no manufacturing in the United States, other than occasional quality checks.”
In 2020, Defendant ALG began selling personal protective equipment (PPE) due to the demand resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. They marketed the PPE as being MUSA, and encouraging consumers to “purchase American-made PPE and masks so that our heroic frontline workers do not have their safety put as risk by relying on foreign-made products.” However, the complaint explains that the PPE came almost exclusively from China, and that the defendant’s employees peeled off Made in China labeling to replace it with MUSA labeling.
The complaint cites three violations of the FTC Act (MUSA claims for LED products, PPE products, and other false or deceptive claims for PPE products) and MUSA Labeling Rule violations. The plaintiff is seeking an injunction preventing the defendants from further violations of the FTC Act and MUSA Labeling Rule, monetary and other relief, monetary civil penalties, and any additional relief deemed just by the Court.
