24 juin 2009
Forward-looking remedy
The government urges that the corrective statements are a
forward-looking remedy authorized under section 1964(a)
because future advertising that “may not contain any statements
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which are themselves false or deceptive” nevertheless inevitably
builds upon Defendants’ previous false statements and, if
uncorrected, “continues the deception, albeit implicitly rather
than explicitly,” rendering those advertisements “part of the
continuing deception of the public.”
We do not doubt that
consumers may “continue to make purchasing decisions based
on the false belief” created by a manufacturer’s false advertising
even when that advertising ceases, but it is
less clear whether, and in what circumstances, continuing
consumer confusion created by uncorrected but truthful
advertising would amount to a knowing fraud. Authorizes only remedies that prevent and restrain future RICO
violations, not all future effects of past RICO violations, or all future unseemly
business practices.