87-302 Deceptive trade practices; enumerated. - Nebraska Statutes

87-302. Deceptive tradepractices; enumerated.(a) A person engages ina deceptive trade practice when, in the course of his or her business, vocation,or occupation, he or she:(1) Passes off goods or services as those of another;(2) Causes likelihood of confusion or of misunderstandingas to the source, sponsorship, approval, or certification of goods or services;(3) Causes likelihood of confusion or of misunderstandingas to affiliation, connection, or association with, or certification by, another;(4) Uses deceptive representations or designations of geographicorigin in connection with goods or services;(5) Represents that goods or services have sponsorship, approval,characteristics, ingredients, uses, benefits, or quantities that they do nothave or that a person has a sponsorship, approval, status, affiliation, orconnection that he or she does not have;(6) Represents that goods are original or new if they aredeteriorated, altered, reconditioned, reclaimed, used, or secondhand, exceptthat sellers may repair damage to and make adjustments on or replace partsof otherwise new goods in an effort to place such goods in compliance withfactory specifications;(7) Represents that goods or services are of a particularstandard, quality, or grade, or that goods are of a particular style or model,if they are of another;(8) Disparages the goods, services, or business of anotherby false or misleading representation of fact;(9) Advertises goods or services with intent not to sell themas advertised or advertises the price in any manner calculated or tendingto mislead or in any way deceive a person;(10) Advertises goods or services with intent not to supplyreasonably expectable public demand, unless the advertisement discloses alimitation of quantity;(11) Makes false or misleading statements of fact concerningthe reasons for, existence of, or amounts of price reductions;(12) Uses or promotes the use of or establishes, operates, or participates in a pyramid promotional schemein connection with the solicitation of suchscheme to members of the public.This subdivision shall not be construed to prohibit a plan or operation, orto define a plan or operation as a pyramid promotional scheme, based on thefact that participants in the plan or operation give consideration in returnfor the right to receive compensation based upon purchases of goods, services,or intangible property by participants for personal use, consumption, or resaleso long as the plan or operation does not promote or induce inventory loadingand the plan or operation implements an appropriate inventory repurchase program;(13) With respect to a sale or lease to a natural person ofgoods or services purchased or leased primarily for personal, family, household,or agricultural purposes, uses or employs any referral or chain referral salestechnique, plan, arrangement, or agreement;(14) Knowingly makes a false or misleading statement in aprivacy policy, published on the Internet or otherwise distributed or published,regarding the use of personal information submitted by members of the public;(15) Uses any scheme or device to defraud by means of:(i) Obtaining money or property by knowingly false or fraudulentpretenses, representations, or promises; or(ii) Selling, distributing, supplying, furnishing, or procuringany property for the purpose of furthering such scheme;(16) Offers an unsolicited check, through the mail or by othermeans, to promote goods or services if the cashing or depositing of the checkobligates the endorser or payee identified on the check to pay for goods orservices. This subdivision does not apply to an extension of credit or anoffer to lend money;(17) Mails or causes to be sent an unsolicited billing statement,invoice, or other document that appears to obligate the consumer to make apayment for services or merchandise he or she did not order;(18)(i) Installs,offers to install, or makes available for installation or download a coveredfile-sharing program on a computer not owned by such person without providingclear and conspicuous notice to the owner or authorized user of the computerthat files on that computer will be made available to the public and withoutrequiring intentional and affirmative activation of the file-sharing functionof such covered file-sharing program by the owner or authorized user of thecomputer; or(ii) Prevents reasonable efforts to block the installation, execution,or disabling of a covered file-sharing program; or(19) Violates any provisionof the Nebraska Foreclosure Protection Act.(b) In order to prevail in an action under the Uniform DeceptiveTrade Practices Act, a complainant need not prove competition between theparties.(c) This section does not affect unfair trade practices otherwiseactionable at common law or under other statutes of this state. SourceLaws 1969, c. 855, § 2, p. 3222; Laws 1974, LB 327, § 2; Laws 1976, LB 820, § 1; Laws 1979, LB 257, § 1; Laws 1988, LB 180, § 1; Laws 1991, LB 408, § 1; Laws 1993, LB 305, § 32; Laws 2003, LB 118, § 1; Laws 2008, LB123, § 29; Laws 2008, LB781, § 1; Laws 2009, LB155, § 18; Laws 2010, LB801, § 2.Effective Date: July 15, 2010 Cross ReferencesNebraska Foreclosure Protection Act, see section 76-2701. AnnotationsTo establish a violation of the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, there must have been a representation regarding the nature of goods or services and the representation must have been for characteristics or benefits that the goods or services did not have. State ex rel. Stenberg v. Consumer's Choice Foods, 276 Neb. 481, 755 N.W.2d 583 (2008).Pursuant to subsection (a)(12) of this section, criminal prosecutions for chain distribution schemes are not limited to prosecution under the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act. State v. Irons, 254 Neb. 18, 574 N.W.2d 144 (1998).Although use of word "similar" is not deceptive, as a whole a comparative advertisement which misrepresents that the consumer would have to wait for competitor's product, which makes unauthorized use of competitor's sample book, and which makes unsubstantiated comparison as to savings violates this act. Kirsch Fabric Corp. v. Brookstein Enterprises, Inc., 209 Neb. 666, 309 N.W.2d 328 (1981).Nebraska Deceptive Trade Practices Act prohibits a broad panoply of deceptive trade practices, including passing of goods and services of another as one's own, confusing consumers as to the origin of the goods. Midway Mfg. Co. v. Dirkschneider, 571 F.Supp. 282 (D. Neb. 1983).Successor to manufacturer in representing it owned trademark owned by distributor and in using trademark in its corporate name, violated this act. Wrist-Rocket Manuf. Co., Inc. v. Saunders, 379 F.Supp. 902 (D. Neb. 1974).