All One God Faith, Inc. v. Organic and Sustainable Industry Standards, Inc., A123009 (Cal. App. 4/13/2010)
| Decision Date | 13 April 2010 |
| Docket Number | A123009. |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | ALL ONE GOD FAITH, INC., Plaintiff and Appellant, v. ORGANIC AND SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRY STANDARDS, INC., Defendant and Appellant. |
Appeal from the Superior Court of San Francisco County, No. CGC-08-474701, John E. Munter, Judge.
First Amendment Project, David Greene and James R. Wheaton, for Defendant and Appellant.
Farella Braun & Martell, John L. Cooper and Morgan T. Jackson, for Plaintiff and Appellant.
The federal government imposes mandatory standards governing the marketing of "organic" food and agricultural products, but provides only voluntary and permissive criteria for "organic" personal care products, such as soaps and lotions. (7 U.S.C. § 6501 et seq.; Organic Foods Production Act of 1990.) A trade association, Organic and Sustainable Industry Standards, Inc. (OASIS), seeks to develop a standard that would provide a definition of "organic" specific to beauty and personal care products and would permit its members whose products meet this standard to advertise using an "OASIS Organic" seal on the product. All One God Faith, Inc., who does business as Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps (Dr. Bronner), filed suit against OASIS and certain of its members, alleging that this certification would constitute unfair competition and misleading advertising. OASIS filed a special motion to strike Dr. Bronner's claim against it pursuant to the anti-SLAPP statute,1 Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16.2 OASIS appeals from the trial court's denial of its motion. Dr. Bronner has filed a protective cross-appeal, contending that the motion should have also been denied under section 425.17. We affirm.
Dr. Bronner filed suit in the San Francisco Superior Court seeking injunctive relief against several of its competitors and against OASIS under California's Unfair Competition law. (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17200 et seq.) Only the third cause of action is directed against OASIS.4 According to Dr. Bronner's first amended complaint (FAC), Dr. Bronner "engages in the business, among other things, of manufacturing and selling . . . personal care and cosmetic products including the nation's top-selling natural brand of liquid and bar soap in a number of varieties under the `Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps' brand and lotions, hair rinses, shampoos, hair conditioners, shaving gels and balms under the brand, `Dr. Bronner's Magic.' "Dr. Bronner's products are labeled either as "Made with Organic Oils" or as "Organic" in accordance with voluntary criteria promulgated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Organic Program (NOP), established under the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990.5 (7 U.S.C. § 6501 et seq.)
As the FAC explains, Under the NOP criteria, a personal care product labeled "Organic" must contain at least 95 percent organically produced ingredients (excluding water and salt) and remaining ingredients must consist of approved nonagricultural substances or nonorganically produced agricultural products that are not commercially available in organic form. Furthermore, under the NOP criteria, a personal care product labeled "Organic" or "Made with Organic [specified ingredients]" cannot contain any cleansing or moisturizing agents made of synthetic petrochemicals or petrochemical compounds. Processes such as hydrogenation and sulfation are not permitted to produce such agents.
Dr. Bronner alleges that OASIS is a commercial trade association and that its members include many of the other named defendants, who sell competing personal care products. Dr. Bronner alleges that OASIS was designed to represent and promote the commercial goals of its member companies in their efforts to sell "organic" personal care products. According to Dr. Bronner's FAC,
Dr. Bronner contends that OASIS issued a new standard that would allow a product to be labeled as "Organic" even if containing cleansing agents made from nonorganic material that has been hydrogenated and/or sulfated, and preserved with synthetic petrochemicals. According to the allegations of the FAC, the development of the OASIS standard was "promoted principally by Defendant [Estée] Lauder but . . . was also supported by other Defendants including Hain Celestial [Group, Inc. (Hain Celestial)] and Cosway [Company, Inc. (Cosway)]."6 Dr. Bronner alleges that it has been informed that Estée Lauder "plans to imminently label its products as certified `Organic' in accordance with the [OASIS] standard . . . ."7 Dr. Bronner seeks injunctive relief, claiming that "[u]nless OASIS is enjoined from such deceptive certification of products, and [Estée] Lauder is enjoined from marketing such products, Dr. Bronner's will lose business to Defendants [Estée] Lauder and other companies, as a result of the fact that Defendant OASIS's certification of these products as `Organic' constitutes an unfair and unlawful business practice and false and deceptive advertising, in that consumers . . . will be misled into buying these OASIS-certified products instead of personal care products manufactured and sold by Dr. Bronner's." In its prayer for relief, Dr. Bronner asks that OASIS "be permanently enjoined from certifying as `Organic' any product for sale within the State of California which cannot lawfully be labeled as `Organic' under the NOP criteria . . . ."
OASIS moved to strike Dr. Bronner's third cause of action pursuant to section 425.16, arguing that OASIS was being sued for exercising its right to free speech—specifically, articulating and publishing its "OASIS Organic" standard. OASIS submitted a declaration from its Volunteer Chair of the Board of Directors, Gay Timmons (Timmons), which provides background information about OASIS.
OASIS is a mutual benefit trade association, organized under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(6),8 "formed in 2007 to promote the production of organic and sustainable health and beauty care products." OASIS does not produce or manufacture any cosmetic or personal care products, nor is it engaged, or does it intend to be engaged, in the business of selling or leasing goods or services. OASIS aims to provide the following services: (1) "[d]evelop, maintain, and administer verifiable certification standards for health and beauty products"; (2) "[p]rovide a forum for educating and communicating to consumers and trade members of the health and beauty industry"; (3) "[p]articipate and advocate for its members in the global marketplace for international collaboration on standards for health and beauty products"; (4) "[s]erve as a link between interested industry producers and qualified suppliers"; and (5) The OASIS Board is comprised of ten members, three of whom are affiliated with either defendants Cosway, Estée Lauder, or Hain Celestial. The declaration also explains that
The declaration further provides that, for several months before the motion to strike was filed, OASIS had been working to develop an "OASIS Organic" standard that would provide a definition of "organic" specific to beauty and personal care products. At the time the motion to strike was filed, OASIS had not yet completed its formulation of the standard, but had released a series of draft standards to the industry and public, via its website, for comment. OASIS had also received approximately 50 inquiries from members of the public regarding its draft standards. Once the standard is finalized, those of OASIS's members "whose products meet the `OASIS Organic' standard, as determined by [a] third party certification agent, may then choose to advertise their products as meeting the `OASIS Organic' standard [by] display[ing] the `OASIS Organic' certification mark on the product."9 The "OASIS Organic" seal appears as a circle, with the word "oasis" inside the circle, and the word "organic" appearing in larger font below the circle. If an OASIS member chooses to so advertise, it must "indicate that the `OASIS Organic' standard was employed, display the `OASIS Organic' certification mark on the product, and direct [its] consumers to the details of the standard." OASIS intends to publish the final standard to the general public so that the public has access to what "OASIS Organic" means.
At the time the motion to strike was filed, OASIS had not yet authorized any entity to use the "OASIS...
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