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Bruce A. Colbath is a partner in Weil's New York office and a member of the Antitrust and Competition Law Practice Group. His expertise extends to all aspects of advertising, marketing and antitrust law, including consumer protection issues relating to unfair deceptive and/or unlawful conduct. He has had extensive experience in all phases of such litigation at the trial and appellate levels.

Mr. Colbath has represented clients in class actions and related litigations of a wide variety of claims, including false advertising, deceptive practices and antitrust, among others, brought in federal and state courts throughout the United States at both the trial court and appellate levels. The actions in which he has been involved have concerned a wide variety of industries, including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, dietary supplements, jewelry, consumer products, automobile distribution, software, semiconductors, apparel, and consumer financial services.

In the advertising and consumer protection area, Mr. Colbath has represented and counseled clients on a wide variety of issues, including privacy and related regulatory issues, and has experience with state and federal regulatory bodies concerning advertising practices and consumer protection issues. Mr. Colbath has extensive experience in Lanham Act false advertising litigation and other proceedings and litigation involving unfair competition and consumer protection issues, as well as extensive experience before the Federal Trade Commission, National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau and its National Advertising Review Board, and in TV network challenges. He has also defended clients in numerous consumer class actions arising from governmental investigations and enforcement activity related to consumer protection.

Examples of his involvement in antitrust and consumer protection litigations include: representing Airborne Health, Inc. in an advertising investigation by the FTC, a multi-state investigation by state attorneys general, and several private class actions, all challenging advertising/product claims relating to the company's dietary supplements. He also represented MasterCard in a state and federal MDL litigation challenging its currency conversion practices, as well as a series of private class actions alleging that MasterCard's currency conversion practices were deceptive in violation of state consumer protection statutes. Mr. Colbath also represented L'Oreal USA in a nationwide antitrust class action that alleged that numerous cosmetics manufacturers and department stores allegedly conspired with respect to the pricing of cosmetic products. In all of these actions settlements were structured on terms favorable to the clients.

Mr. Colbath was also lead counsel in litigating a false advertising class action that established a new Lanham Act standing test that has subsequently been adopted in several other circuits. See Conte Bros. Automotive, Inc. v. Quaker State-Slick 50, Inc., 165 F.3d 221 (3d Cir. 1998).

Mr. Colbath is a member of the American Bar Association and is a Vice-Chair of the Consumer Protection Committee of the Antitrust Section. Mr. Colbath is also a senior editor of the ABA's Consumer Protection Law Developments and the author of the Lanham Act False Advertising Chapter. From 2001-2003, Mr. Colbath served as Vice-Chair of the Business Torts and Unfair Competition Committee of the Antitrust Section. Mr. Colbath is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the Antitrust Section of the New York State Bar Association and also a member of the Consumer Affairs Committee of The Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Mr. Colbath has lectured and written on a number of issues involving complex litigation, class action defense and unfair competition.

Mr. Colbath received an A.B. degree from Georgetown University. He obtained his J.D. from New York Law School, where he served as editor of the Human Rights Law Journal.

Bar Admissions

• Education
  Georgetown University (B.A., 1974); New York Law School (J.D., 1985)