IronmagLabs Sued

[StanG]

IML has been sued by another supplement company over 2 supplements they sell that contain the sarm ostarine. They are accused of false advertising claims and unfair competition. Apparently they are saying ostarine is naturally occurring and has no side effects.
I have read about this across the forums but I found one Blog post that falls pretty much in line with my thoughts on the situation:
What do you guys think? I think the supplement industry is a pretty damn shady one personally.

[Bouncer]

I edited out the links and posted the content below.

[Bouncer]

Part 1

"On October 21, 2015 a lawsuit was filed in California Court against Ironmag Labs for the following offenses: 2 separate False Advertising Claims and one Unfair Competition Claim. There are several aspects of this that I wanted to discuss here.

First a bit about Ironmag Labs. They are fairly well known within the internet bodybuilding community. The own and operate a couple Forums, they have a Research Chemical/Peptides Store, and the also have a supplement company. This particular action is aimed at the supplement company under the Ironmag Labs LLC umbrella.

The allegations are that 2 of their supplements have been falsely advertised as having "no side effects" & to be "naturally occurring supplements". These supplements are OSTA Rx and Super DMZ 4.0. The primary ingredient within these supplements that is the main focus of this lawsuit is Ostarine, or MK-2866. Ostarine is a SARM, or selective androgen receptor modulator. SARMs (including Ostarine) selectively activate the androgen receptor. The primary reason for interest in these compounds in bodybuilding circles is that they have the ability to induce some of the anabolic effects of an androgen, but they do so in such a fashion that some of the normal side effects of traditional androgens may not be experienced.

I wanted to discuss several aspects of this lawsuit. I wanted to touch on exactly who filed this lawsuit and the obvious reasons why. The validity or legitimacy of the complaints. The impact of such a lawsuit, and the overall situation as a whole as it relates to the bodybuilding community. The following is being written from my perspective, with much of my personal opinion being expressed along with the facts regarding the lawsuit and the compounds, as well as the companies involved. I strongly encourage people to respond and reply with your own thoughts and opinions as well.

First of all the company that filed the lawsuit (yes it is a company, not a federal or government agency) is Nutrition Distribution, LLC, better known as Athletic Xtreme. A supplement company itself. I find this really interesting and to be honest I think its fairly obvious why they are I have no doubt it is not to be a consumer watchdog but to help their own business by suing some of the competition. I say this in this particular case as IML is not the first fellow supplement company that Nutrition Distribution has sued. Now while something like this seems a bit shady it does not mean that the lawsuit itself is without merit. I have heard some say it is an example of the industry policing itself, I would not be so naive as to think this is an attempt to police anything rather it is an attempt to further their own bottom line by tying up the competition in litigation. The whole thing is a bit odd but again it does not mean the claims are not accurate. Now that we have established who is responsible for the lawsuit and my feelings as to why lets take a look at if the clams made in the lawsuit are in fact meritorious.

The first allegation, that IML claimed that these supplements "have no side effects", is one that companies selling Sarms seem to be very commonly doing. In fact most of what I am about to say far from just applies to IML, it applies to the majority of the companies selling products similar to the ones mentioned in this lawsuit. This is a pretty egregious and misleading claim. While Sarms like Ostarine may have a side effect profile that differs from traditional androgens they are far from side effect free. One of the most prominent claims being made regarding most sarms is that they do not shut down or inhibit the HPTA. I even see mention of Ostarne in particular being used as part of a pct protocol, a time where we would be trying to fully restore HPTA function. This is very disturbing to me as Ostarine and just about all Sarms to varying degrees are in fact suppressive. Some very significantly so. To lead customers to believe otherwise is an extremely irresponsible claim and it is being made by just about all purveyors of these products save a very small, select few. I have even heard justification that the suppression of a sarm can be offset by being taken with the serms that are used in PCT such as clomid and/or nolvadex. I think this is another pretty irresponsible contention. The goal of PCT is to as quickly, fully and efficiently as possible restore HPTA function. Anything that counteracts this should never even be considered as part of any pct protocol. We arent talking deep science here, we are talking lain old common sense. In addition to Ostarine's effects on the HPTA there are of course other side effects as well. To say that it or any Sarm is side effect free is completely inaccurate. To incorporate such a stance into your marketing of the product is morally, ethically, and as is beiing called into question here, legally wrong. So as to the complaint that IML is claiming that their products containing Ostarine are side effect free, well that would IMO have to fall under the umbrella of false advertising for sure. Again IML is far from the only company doing this but they are the ones being sued in this particular litigation.

As far as the second allegation, that Ostarine is a naturally occurring supplement, that is much more quickly dispelled as untrue. It isnt, plain and simple. It is a pharmaceutical, plain and simple. This claim of Ostarine being naturally occurring is something that any SUPPLEMENT company selling a product containing Ostarine is lying about. In order to legally sell Ostarine as a dietary supplement that must be the case, and it isn't. It would readily appear that IML is also guilty of this second allegation as well, along with every other supplement company selling a product which contains the Sarm Ostarine. So neither of these allegations, IMO, are inaccurate by any means.

I wanted to take a minute kind of mid flow here to point out a few things that jump out to me at this juncture in my writings. First of all IML in addition to having a supplement company also has an RC company as well. Why on earth they would decide to sell supplements like those mentioned in this lawsuit illegally when they could very well (and probably do) sell Ostarine legally via their RC company is probably not a very prudent business decision in the long term. Obviously there is a broader level of acceptability by the general public when it comes to supplements as opposed the research chemicals, so this broadens your potential customer base & increases the ability to earn revenue. Also by selling this as a supplement it would allow you to combine it with other ingredients, as they have done with these 2 products, something you cannot do with a research chemical. Bottom line, the obvious reason for seeling it as a supplement is money.

The second thing I wanted to point out or reiterate is that IML is far from alone in being guilty to the allegations mentioned in this lawsuit. The irresponsibility that is occurring in the supplement industry and across the forums is at an all time high. In spite of many recent government crackdowns the products being sold and even more so the marketing tactics being used to sell them is at an all time high as far as immoral, unethical, and irresponsible actions. Little regard at all is being made when it comes to consumer safety or even just simple, basic, honest customer education. Quite often this is what is most frustrating to me. A product such as Ostarine for example does very much so have a place in the body building community. It could be marketed as a Research Chemical honestly and ethically, yet most companies are choosing not to take this high road. The statement I just made, that marketing honestly and ethically is taking the high road, is very telling in and of itself. What should be an industry standard is viewed as exceptional. Thats a disgrace."

[Bouncer]

Part 2

"I think this lawsuit is one of the final nails in a coffin that has been being nailed for some time. We are already seeing other supplement companies preempt lawsuits of this kind by dropping Sarms from their supplement lineup (ie: Blackstone Labs & Olympus Labs). I kind of view the sale as Sarms as a supplement as a "get it while you can" scenario by the supp companies. I think they all knew that they would not be able to sell Sarms or products containing Sarms as supplements for very long. Its turning out that this is the case.

As far as the body building community as a whole the impact is really minimal in the sense that this is simply one more supplement in a long and rapidly growing list of supplements that will no longer be allowed to legally be sold as supplements. The fact is they are not supplements and as much as I am not for regulation in many cases when the selling of compounds like Ostarine for example as a supplement is combined with misleading and untrue marketing claims I do not think they should be legally allowed to be sold as supplements. I bolded the last part of that sentence as I do not want it to get lost in translation here. That is a big part of the equation that makes this wrong IMO.

That kind of brings me to my summation re this entire lawsuit. I think the motivation for such a lawsuit by another supplement company was spawned strictly from greed in the sense that the company filing certainly has their own bottom line in mind first, well before the well being of the consumer. That being said it does not make the sale of supplements containing Ostarine either legally or morally correct. In fact when it is combined with willfully misleading and inaccurate contentions regarding side effects and so on it most certainly is NOT legally or morally correct. It is wrong.

This really probably brings me to the real reason this particular lawsuit sparked enough of an interest for me to specifically write about it. The entire supplement industry and the marketing tactics used on the forums across the net are really a bit out of control. It has become a convoluted web of what goes from misleading deception to outright lies. In a situation like this where the company selling the product has its own forums that can be used to market their products take this to an entire other level as far as self serving and misleading marketing. Not only can they control what is said about their products they can control what isnt said about their products on their forums. They set up users and give them high post counts with high reputation points and use them to promote and market their products. These users are not even real, ghost users I like to call them. Made up users whose sole purpose is to market products. Combine this with other users that are paid off with free product to say good things, often misleading things is another issue that runs rampant.

Now to a forum member that has been around the boards for a long time it easy easy to say sure thats what goes on and since it is well known it should be easily recognized and disregarded. Well maybe so IF you have been around and know the game. What about the newcomers to the forums? What about the young guys entering into this lifestyle that do NOT know better? These are the victims that are truly paying the price here. Young men, HPTA still developing being told a product like ostarine has no side effects and is not suppressive and so on. This is just plain wrong.

Do I think the solution to this is federal of government regulation? Honestly no, it isnt working. What IS the solution is the companies themselves being held accountable by the body building and forum community as a whole. People need to take a step back and realize the potential damage this could be doing and stop participating in such nonsense. Have some ethics, some moral fiber. Imagine if it is YOUR son or DAUGHTER reading this information. Believing that taking say Ostarine has no side effects at all and is perfectly safe without effects one needs to be aware of to take it safely without potentially harming themselves. As I said earlier this is nothing new but I think it is about time that forum members themselves need to take stock and decide what forums they are willing to support. What lines are they willing or not willing to cross. Being around the boards for a long time I am just seeing this type of thing occurring at an all time high. Its wrong.

At some point, as a participant on the forums and a member of this community , one should ask themselves the following. Am I going to be a part of this problem or am I going to be a part of the solution? How about honestly sharing facts and experience on compounds and various products? How about not being bought for a couple bottles of free supplements or a few thousand points in reputation? How about asking yourself if my son were asking me about this product what would I tell HIM as far as its true effects, effectiveness and safety? I just think that it is time for the senior and experienced forum members to put their foot down across the boards and put a stop to such nonsense. The immoral, unethical and illegal claims and tactics being used to market a huge number of supplements by a large % of the supplement companies should simply no longer be tolerated. Its like the internet removes someone just enough that they feel comfortable lowering there moral fiber and character just enough to have allowed such behavior not only to become acceptable but to have become the norm.

Enough is Enough in my opinion. Lawsuits like this should not even be necessary because the tactics used should not be tolerated by the very customer base that the products are being marketed too."

[StanG]

I edited out the links and posted the content below.

Cool, TY.
Sorry if I broke the rules. In the future I will c&p as you have done.

[Bouncer]

It's just that link in particular was a link to a competing forum but more importantly it had competitor advertiser banners all over the place. I dont like to be a nazi like that but RUI keeps this place running.

[StanG]

It's just that link in particular was a link to a competing forum but more importantly it had competitor advertiser banners all over the place. I dont like to be a nazi like that but RUI keeps this place running.

Totally understandable and completely reasonable.
Plus RUI is good company IME, I should have thought about that before linking.