Quoted from http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aWFoKyatcSdg
Pfizer Move to Toss Menopause Video Rejected by Judge
By Sophia Pearson and Jef Feeley
Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc. can’t force plaintiffs’ attorneys to remove from the Internet a video about jury verdicts against the company related to its Prempro menopause medicine, a judge ruled, clarifying an earlier decision.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys who were ordered to remove the video from the Internet are now allowed to keep it up as long as they replace the title and indicate it is a plaintiffs’ presentation, state court Judge Sandra Moss in Philadelphia said in a Jan. 20 ruling.
“We are pleased the court ordered plaintiffs’ counsel to properly label their promotional video,” Chris Loder, a Pfizer spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement. “Disguised as a news segment, the original video failed to inform viewers of its sponsorship by plaintiffs’ lawyers.”
The video, which has been viewed more than 7,000 times, was posted on Web sites including Google Inc.’s YouTube by plaintiffs’ attorneys who won more than $78 million in damages in a Pennsylvania trial over Pfizer’s hormone-replacement drugs.
Pfizer argued that the video, titled “Prempro News Segment,” violated state legal ethics rules and was aimed at swaying potential jurors in future trials over the drugs. The company sought to have it removed.
Moss, who is overseeing all cases involving Prempro in state court in Philadelphia, initially granted Pfizer’s request on Jan. 13. In clarifying her ruling, Moss ordered plaintiff attorneys to remove the title and indicate that it wasn’t a news segment.
