Recently, eyewear brands that offer virtual try-on (“VTO”) tools—which allow website visitors to “try before they buy” while shopping online—have faced a barrage of class action lawsuits alleging violations of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”). Importantly, however, BIPA suits are not the only legal risks that continue to increase for eyewear retailers today, especially those that sell prescription contact lenses. So, too, are the risks for non-compliance with the Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) Contact Lens Rule, which sets forth a range of compliance obligations on sellers of contact lenses.
David Oberly examines a recent FTC enforcement action involving alleged violations of the Contact Lens Rule and FTC Act—resulting in the largest Contact Lens Rule FTC settlement to date—and provides several key takeaways for mitigating legal risks associated with the Contact Lens Rule and FTC liability exposure—in this Law360 article: FTC Settlement Puts Contact Lens Compliance in Sharp Focus.