Tag: iCN Internal Distribution

Grounded in LexisNexis’ vast legal research and practical guidance content, following a successful commercial preview, Lexis+ AI is now commercially available in Canada, delivering fully encrypted, secure interactions with authoritative responses in seconds.

Toronto, ON – July 25, 2024 – LexisNexis^® Legal & Professional, a leading global provider of legal information and analytics, today announced that Lexis+ AI is now generally available for Canadian customers. This follows the successful commercial launches of Lexis+ AI in the USA, Australia, the UK, and France.

Lexis+ AI delivers trusted responses in a familiar, easy-to-use interface that uses an extensively enhanced LexisNexis proprietary Retrieval Augmented Generation 2.0 (RAG 2.0) platform. Lexis+ AI responses are grounded in one of the world’s largest collections of authoritative and exclusive legal content from LexisNexis, including primary, secondary, analytical content and expansive Practical Guidance modules.

Lexis+ AI provides direct links to underlying citable authority in its responses. This allows users to instantly validate results, reducing the risk of invented content, or hallucinations. Lexis+ AI automatically checks all linked citations against LexisNexis’ content to ensure they are valid.

Developed with input from leading legal professionals across Canada, Lexis+ AI has been built to meet the day-to-day needs of lawyers. Chris Figel, Executive Vice President and General Counsel at AirBoss of America commented, “I think of Lexis+ AI as the new gateway to all services in the LexisNexis universe and will use it that way. In addition, it allows me to explore features and functions which either I was not aware of before, or which didn’t exist.”

The solution’s AI capabilities were built internally at LexisNexis with world-leading tech partnerships, enabling the company to rapidly introduce new features and technology and provide customers with a seamlessly integrated experience across the LexisNexis ecosystem.

Lexis+ AI features conversational search, intelligent legal drafting, insightful summarization, and document upload capabilities, all supported by state-of-the-art encryption and privacy technology to keep sensitive data secure:

• Conversational search simplifies complex and time-consuming legal research by enabling users to conversationally interact with Lexis+ AI, explore new insights, and ask for adjusted and refined output.
• Document drafting instantly produces contract clauses and client communications from a simple user prompt.
• Summarization functionality delivers case summaries in seconds with more content and capabilities coming soon.
• Document upload capabilities enable users to rapidly analyze, summarize and extract key insights from legal documents.

 

Lexis+ AI offers industry-leading data security and attention to privacy. Uploaded documents are always purged at the end of each session and users can easily manage or delete their prompt conversation history. The solution is continually improving, with LexisNexis legal subject matter experts regularly sampling hundreds of thousands of AI generated answers, to tune and educate the model. LexisNexis employs over 2,000 technologists, data scientists and subject matter experts to develop, test, and validate its solutions and deliver comprehensive, accurate information.

“This is a transformative milestone for the Canadian legal industry. We take immense pride in introducing a ground-breaking generative AI solution that empowers our clients to thrive securely and confidently,” said Sam Puchala, President and General Manager of LexisNexis Canada. “The enthusiasm about Lexis+ AI underscores its game-changing potential, and we are thrilled to provide our esteemed clients with seamless access to our extensive legal resources and state-of-the-art AI capabilities, fortifying their competitive edge like never before.”

LexisNexis is responsibly developing legal AI solutions with human oversight. LexisNexis, part of FTSE listed RELX, follows the RELX Responsible AI Principles. These require the business to consider the real-world impact of its solutions on people and to take proactive action to prevent the creation or reinforcement of unfair bias.

For more information on Lexis+ AI or to schedule a demo visit www.lexisnexis.ca/Lexis-Plus-AI.

About LexisNexis Legal & Professional
LexisNexis^® Legal & Professional provides legal, regulatory, and business information and analytics that help customers increase their productivity, improve decision-making, achieve better outcomes, and advance the rule of law around the world. As a digital pioneer, the company was the first to bring legal and business information online with its Lexis^® and Nexis^® services. LexisNexis Legal & Professional, which serves customers in more than 150 countries with 11,800 employees worldwide, is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers.

About RELX
RELX is a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. The Group serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs more than 35,000 people over 40 percent of whom are in North America. The shares of RELX PLC, the parent company, are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX. The market capitalization is approximately £49.5bn, €56.3bn, $61.8bn.

Media Contact
Lori Harito, Publicist
lori@boulevardofdreams.ca
1-416-523-9602

New York, NY – July 24, 2024 – In a challenge brought by Advantice Health, BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Division recommended that Dr. Luke Healthcare discontinue certain claims for Dr. Luke’s Fungal Nail Renewal product, including health-related claims that the product treats nail fungus, natural claims, and claims that a doctor recommends the product or that it treats a medical condition.

The challenged claims, which appeared on various channels including Amazon, Walmart, and Dr. Luke’s website, position Fungal Nail Renewal as an effective treatment for nail fungus (onychomycosis).  

Treatment Claims

The National Advertising Division (NAD) determined that Dr. Luke’s claims that its product treats nail fungus are not supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence.

NAD determined that the studies on products with acetic acid were not a good fit for the challenged claims because the composition of the products tested, the dosage, and the mode of administration differed from the Dr. Luke product.

NAD also found that the Food and Drug Administration’s Over the Counter (OTC) monograph regarding 1% Tolnaftate does not support nail fungus treatment claims. Further, NAD concluded that the evidence provided by Dr. Luke regarding the efficacy of the Chinese herb ingredients and the benefit they provide did not support the challenged treatment claims.

  NAD recommended that Dr. Luke discontinue the following claims:

• “Extra Strength Toenail Fungus Treatment for Toenail or Fingernail”
• “Repair Onychomycosis deeply”
• “Formulated to effectively treat Nail Damage. Nail Fungus. Based on Chinese Traditional Treatment Research”
• “Doctor Recommended” 
• “Dr. Luke’s Toenail Fungus Treatment cures nail fungus”
• “Kills fungus, stops itching and burning, restores your skin and toe’s health”
• “Repair & Renew – It can radically repair damaged nails, such as nail discoloration, nail thickening, nail splitting, nail crumbling”
• “Extra strong formula, renew damaged nail faster “
• “It also protects from further damage”

Natural Claims

The National Advertising Division (NAD) determined that Dr. Luke’s “natural formula” claims reasonably convey the message that the product is formulated without artificial ingredients and treats nail fungus through natural ingredients. As the active ingredient in Fungal Nail Renewal is a synthetic compound, NAD found the natural claims to be unsupported and recommended they be discontinued.  

Doctor Recommended/Treatment Claims

The National Advertising Division (NAD) found that Dr. Luke’s imagery of a man in a white coat with a stethoscope conveys the messages that a doctor recommends the product or that the product treats a medical condition. Although Dr. Luke voluntarily discontinued its doctor-recommended claims, in the absence of supporting evidence, NAD recommended that Dr. Luke modify its advertising to avoid conveying these messages.

During the proceeding, Dr. Luke permanently discontinued a number of claims. Therefore, NAD did not review these claims on their merits and will treat the claims, for compliance purposes, as though NAD recommended they be discontinued.

In its advertiser statement, Dr. Luke stated that although it disagrees with the decision, it will “comply with NAD’s recommendations.”

All BBB National Programs case decision summaries can be found in the case decision library. For the full text of NAD, NARB, and CARU decisions, subscribe to the online archive. This press release shall not be used for advertising or promotional purposes.

About BBB National Programs: BBB National Programs, a non-profit organization, is the home of U.S. independent industry self-regulation, currently operating more than a dozen globally recognized programs that have been helping enhance consumer trust in business for more than 50 years. These programs provide third-party accountability and dispute resolution services that address existing and emerging industry issues, create a fairer playing field for businesses, and a better experience for consumers. BBB National Programs continues to evolve its work and grow its impact by providing business guidance and fostering best practices in arenas such as advertising, child-and-teen-directed marketing, data privacy, dispute resolution, automobile warranty, technology, and emerging areas. To learn more, visit bbbprograms.org.

About the National Advertising Division: The National Advertising Division of BBB National Programs provides independent self-regulation and dispute resolution services, guiding the truthfulness of advertising across the U.S. The National Advertising Division reviews national advertising in all media and its decisions set consistent standards for advertising truth and accuracy, delivering meaningful protection to consumers and leveling the playing field for business.

Contact:
Jennie Rosenberg
Media Relations
BBB National Programs
press@bbbnp.org

Enhancements deliver trusted results and an increasingly personalized generative AI experience, giving customers greater control over their prompts, jurisdictions, and search history

CHICAGO, IL—American Association of Law Libraries 2024 (Booth #604) — LexisNexis^® Legal & Professional, a leading global provider of information and analytics, today announced a powerful set of customer-driven enhancements to the industry-leading Lexis+ AI^™ that reinforce the company’s commitment to delivering high-quality, trusted results. Based on continuous user feedback, these new capabilities harness generative AI to streamline legal research, provide comprehensive, current legal analysis, and save time so legal professionals can focus on higher-value work.

Grounded in the world’s largest repository of up-to-date, exclusive legal content from LexisNexis, Lexis+ AI enables conversational search, insightful summarization, intelligent legal drafting, and document upload and analysis capabilities in a seamless user experience.

All recent and upcoming enhancements are based on customer-led development.

Usability enhancements include:

• “Stop Response” Option – Gives users more control over the AI assistant’s actions, allowing them to halt responses if they need to make changes to their prompts, which will save them valuable time.
• Default Jurisdiction – Users can now set a jurisdiction as their default jurisdiction, which allows it to appear pre-selected each time they access the jurisdiction panel for seamless workflow.
• History – A new conversation history feature enables users to easily find, review, and re-run previous conversations with the AI assistant.
• Lexis+ AI Uploads Grid View – Streamlines the research process by displaying answers from multiple user-uploaded documents on a single screen for clear side-by-side comparisons and efficient insights.

 

Legal research and drafting enhancements include:

• Lexis+ AI Headnotes – Uses advanced AI technology to provide comprehensive headnote coverage for every case across the entire collection, allowing users to quickly grasp key points of law and easily locate similar cases, ensuring no critical legal insights are missed.
• Shepardize^® Uploaded Documents – Users can run the renowned Shepard’s^® Citation Service directly within their uploaded documents using the AI assistant. This provides access to the full Brief Analysis report, identifying weaknesses in opposing arguments and strengthening their case.
• Shepard’s Treatment Summaries – Enables users to quickly determine if a case is relevant with at-a-glance summaries and seamlessly access the full Shepard’s report.
• Legal News Integration – Direct access to premium legal news content is now integrated into the AI assistant, complementing existing legal research capabilities for comprehensive legal analysis in one solution.

 

Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) enhancements now include:

• Integration of advanced Shepard’s^® Knowledge Graph to the proprietary LexisNexis RAG platform (GraphRAG) – Users can harness the power of highly accurate Shepard’s^® case law relationship information to deliver more authoritative, complete and final AI-generated responses.
• Shepard’s^® Knowledge Graph is a sophisticated data organization framework that allows users to:
  • Precisely identify the most relevant data from extensive Lexis legal sources.
  • Receive complete answers based on connections between related opinions, legal taxonomies, and additional metadata that enhance the quality and context of responses.
  • Accurately verify citations, case connections and legal concepts as validated by the Shepard’s^® Citations Service.
  • Reduce research time and improve confidence and trust through measurably better answer quality.

 

Large Language Models added as part of our multi-model approach include:

• Claude 3 models by Anthropic, hosted on Amazon Bedrock from Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• GPT-4o, hosted on Microsoft Azure OpenAI
• Fine-tuned Mistral 7B, an open-source model, hosted on LexisNexis-managed servers within AWS

 

“At LexisNexis, customers are at the heart of our continuous generative AI development,” said Sean Fitzpatrick, CEO of LexisNexis North America, UK, and Ireland. “We are rapidly introducing customer-driven enhancements as part of our ongoing commitment to improve the user experience and deliver the most value for our customers.”

LexisNexis deploys ethical, powerful generative AI solutions with a flexible, multi-model approach that prioritizes using the best model for each individual legal use case and enables the company to investigate and deploy new models with unmatched speed.

“We are committed to a diverse and wide set of large language models in the legal space—and the speed at which we investigate new models, experiment with them and deploy them is unmatched,” said Jeff Pfeifer, Chief Product Officer, Canada, Ireland, UK and USA, LexisNexis Legal & Professional. “We are focused on delivering the highest-quality answers to our customers with unparalleled speed and driving trusted results in areas that customers have indicated are their top priorities.”

LexisNexis is responsibly developing legal AI solutions with human oversight. LexisNexis, part of RELX, follows the RELX Responsible AI Principles, considering the real-world impact of its solutions on people and taking action to prevent the creation or reinforcement of unfair bias.

These enhancements are available to customers on Lexis+ AI. For more information, visit www.lexisnexis.com/ai.

About LexisNexis Legal & Professional
LexisNexis^® Legal & Professional provides legal, regulatory, and business information and analytics that help customers increase their productivity, improve decision-making, achieve better outcomes, and advance the rule of law around the world. As a digital pioneer, the company was the first to bring legal and business information online with its Lexis^® and Nexis^® services. LexisNexis Legal & Professional, which serves customers in more than 150 countries with 11,800 employees worldwide, is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers.
 
Media Contact
Dana Greenstein
Director of Communications, North America & UK
LexisNexis Legal & Professional
212-448-2163
dana.greenstein@lexisnexis.com

Acquisition enables legal customers to extract key insights from internal data and combine trusted LexisNexis content and AI capabilities for personalized generative AI drafting experience

NEW YORK – LexisNexis^® Legal & Professional, a leading global provider of information and analytics, today announced it has completed its acquisition of Henchman, a legal tech company that enriches data from Document Management Systems (DMS) for faster document drafting. Belgium-based Henchman has 170+ legal and corporate customers globally including top U.S. and European law firms and companies.

As previously announced on June 3, 2024, Henchman’s advanced technology enables law firms and corporations to quickly extract insights from their internal data repositories. LexisNexis will combine this technology with its own AI technology, trusted content, and drafting guidance to deliver new, personalized generative AI drafting solutions in products including Lexis+ AI^™ and Lexis^® Create.

“LexisNexis and Henchman share a vision of transforming legal work with personalized AI solutions,” said Mike Walsh, CEO LexisNexis Legal & Professional. “Together, our teams will make it easier and faster for customers to deliver high-quality legal work using generative AI that is grounded in both their internal firm data and LexisNexis content and tools. Customers asked for this capability, and we are delighted to answer. The acquisition will provide exciting new ways for customers to create value for their clients, as well as their organizations, using legal AI specifically tailored to their needs.”

LexisNexis is responsibly developing legal AI solutions with human oversight. LexisNexis, part of RELX, follows the RELX Responsible AI Principles, considering the real-world impact of its solutions on people and taking action to prevent the creation or reinforcement of unfair bias.

Lexis+ AI delivers trusted results with state-of-the-art encryption and privacy technology to keep data secure. Using an extensively enhanced LexisNexis proprietary Retrieval Augmented Generation 2.0 platform, Lexis+ AI responses are grounded in the world’s largest repository of up-to-date legal content which ensures the highest-quality answer with the most up-to-date validated citation references. Uploaded documents are always purged at the end of each session and users can easily manage or delete their prompt conversation history.

The solution is continually improving with hundreds of thousands of rated answer samples by LexisNexis legal subject matter experts used for model tuning. LexisNexis employs over 2,000 technologists, data scientists, and subject matter experts to develop, test, and validate its solutions and deliver comprehensive, authoritative information.

To learn about Henchman and LexisNexis’ ongoing development and be among the first to learn about new personalized generative AI drafting capabilities, visit www.lexisnexis.com/henchman-DMS.

For more information on Lexis+ AI and our generative AI resources for legal professionals, visit www.lexisnexis.com/ai.

About LexisNexis Legal & Professional
LexisNexis^® Legal & Professional provides legal, regulatory, and business information and analytics that help customers increase their productivity, improve decision-making, achieve better outcomes, and advance the rule of law around the world. As a digital pioneer, the company was the first to bring legal and business information online with its Lexis^® and Nexis^® services. LexisNexis Legal & Professional, which serves customers in more than 150 countries with 11,800 employees worldwide, is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers.
 
Media Contact
Dana Greenstein
Director of Communications, North America & UK
LexisNexis Legal & Professional
212-448-2163
dana.greenstein@lexisnexis.com

Organizations can now utilize Nexis+ AI’s transparent Gen AI capabilities to access trustworthy content sources and powerful summarization to achieve faster time to insights

New York, NY – July 17, 2024 – LexisNexis^® Legal & Professional, a leading global provider of information and analytics, today announced the commercial launch of Nexis+ AI™, incorporating advanced generative AI-powered capabilities designed to transform and accelerate corporate research, intelligence gathering and business decision-making functions. Enhanced by more than 700 hours of in-depth customer interviews, Nexis+ AI is tailored to meet the evolving needs of modern businesses. Corporations can now deploy Nexis+ AI’s powerful research, intelligence and document summarization features to find accurate information effortlessly, gain a competitive advantage and boost efficiency.

Trusted for over 50 years by thousands of corporations globally, LexisNexis delivers critical business decisioning information from a huge repository of licensed news publications and corporate data on millions of companies. Nexis+ AI leverages a portfolio of over 20,000 licensed titles, with GAI rights granted by some of the largest publishers and industry-recognized titles such as The Associated Press, Gannett, McClatchy, Benzinga, FiscalNote – CQ Roll Call, and many others. With Nexis+ AI, users can:

• Quickly research and analyze business, financial and legal information and news;
• Summarize lengthy documents and extract relevant entities and data points;
• Compile, organize and share content;
• Create first drafts or outlines of intelligence reports with a few mouse clicks; and
• Derive actionable business insights with speed and precision.

“Business leaders across nearly every industry tell us they need deeper, more accurate insights to better facilitate timely decisions, but they find the amount of corporate data daunting and the process time consuming. Recognizing this, we’ve created Nexis+ AI to accelerate data-intensive research and strategic decision-making,” said Todd Larsen, President of Nexis Solutions. “We worked closely with our customers to develop Nexis+ AI’s powerful tools that help organizations gather corporate intelligence faster and seamlessly integrate into their existing workflows for greater efficiency.”

Publisher IP and Revenue Protection

With the growth in popularity of AI and generative AI tools, publishers and content owners have increasingly focused on protecting their copyright and intellectual property. LexisNexis has long-standing, extensive – and in some cases exclusive – content licensing agreements with publishers. These relationships allow LexisNexis to deliver contextually relevant, Gen AI-derived answers, with direct links to the original source material, to help minimize the risk of AI hallucinations.

With Nexis+ AI’s publisher-first approach, publishers can:

• Ensure their intellectual property rights are respected, knowing that their content is never used to train any AI models without their knowledge or permission;
• Rest assured that their content is presented transparently and in context to preserve brand integrity, with citations taking users back to the source material; and
• Get paid fairly for the use of their content, whether that use is by human or by machine.

Commitment to Excellence
Earlier this year, LexisNexis launched a Nexis+ AI commercial preview program that granted early access to a select number of organizations. The preview program enrolled testers across a wide range of industries and professions, including representatives from large corporates, financial institutions, and six major consulting firms, among others, to ensure further refinement of the platform’s already advanced features and functionality.

“The launch of Nexis+ AI represents a significant first milestone in our mission to provide organizations with the tools they need to accelerate company research and make informed business decisions,” said Dani McCormick, Vice President of Product, Nexis Solutions

Strong Focus on Transparency, Data Accuracy, Privacy and Security

LexisNexis’ commitment to data security and privacy spans more than 50 years. The company employs more than 2,000 technologists, data scientists and subject matter experts to develop, test, and validate its solutions. With data privacy top of mind among corporate executives considering Gen AI solutions, LexisNexis, part of RELX, follows the RELX Responsible AI Principles, considering the real-world impact of its solutions on people and taking action to prevent the creation or reinforcement of unfair bias.

Nexis+ AI also provides transparency and accuracy by design, utilizing retrieval augmented generation (RAG) to enhance the precision and reliability of generative AI models with information fetched from thousands of trusted, authoritative sources.

For more information about Nexis+ AI, please visit https://lexisnexis.com/NexisAI.

About LexisNexis Legal & Professional 
LexisNexis^® Legal & Professional provides legal, regulatory, and business information and analytics that help customers increase their productivity, improve decision-making, achieve better outcomes, and advance the rule of law around the world. As a digital pioneer, the company was the first to bring legal and business information online with its Lexis^® and Nexis^® services. LexisNexis Legal & Professional, which serves customers in more than 150 countries with 11,800 employees worldwide, is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. 

Media Contact:

Leela Bozonelis, Global Product Marketing Director
Nexis Solutions, a Division of LexisNexis
929-383-8781
leela.bozonelis@lexisnexis.com

Jennifer Johnston, Plat4orm PR
208-989-9962
jennifer@plat4orm.com

New York, NY – July 17, 2024 – In a Fast-Track SWIFT challenge brought by competitor Mead Johnson & Company, LLC, BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Division determined that use of a flag image on product packaging for Kendal Nutricare’s Kendamil infant formula reasonably conveys a supported message about the products’ origin.

NAD, however, recommended Kendal modify claims to disclose the product’s country of origin in certain contexts.

Fast-Track SWIFT is an expedited process designed for single-issue advertising cases brought to the National Advertising Division (NAD).

Kendal manufactures certain Kendamil products in the United Kingdom (UK) from milk sourced from the UK and other European countries.  

Mead Johnson argued that Kendal’s use of a blue circular logo with nine gold stars on packaging for Kendamil infant formula and on its website conveys the misleading message that products made in the UK are made in the European Union (EU).

NAD determined that Kendamil’s packaging reasonably conveys a supported message about the products’ origin. NAD noted that the flag logo appears in a context where the net impression is that products originate from the European continent as a whole, including the UK. Moreover, the UK is identified as the country of origin on the bottom of the packaging. 

However, NAD noted that Kendal’s US website displays the nine-star blue flag image without a specific country of origin identified (just references to Europe generally). Accordingly, NAD recommended that if any specific products are referenced in conjunction with statements about the products’ geographic roots and the flag logo, Kendal should clearly and conspicuously disclose that product’s particular country of origin. 

In its advertiser statement, Kendal stated that it is “grateful to the NAD for its determination that the use of the European Flag Icon on our infant formulas packaging is appropriate. We accept the NAD’s recommendation to provide further context when the European Flag Icon appears on the US website.”

All BBB National Programs case decision summaries can be found in the case decision library. For the full text of NAD, NARB, and CARU decisions, subscribe to the online archive. This press release shall not be used for advertising or promotional purposes.

About BBB National Programs: BBB National Programs, a non-profit organization, is the home of U.S. independent industry self-regulation, currently operating more than a dozen globally recognized programs that have been helping enhance consumer trust in business for more than 50 years. These programs provide third-party accountability and dispute resolution services that address existing and emerging industry issues, create a fairer playing field for businesses, and a better experience for consumers. BBB National Programs continues to evolve its work and grow its impact by providing business guidance and fostering best practices in arenas such as advertising, child-and-teen-directed marketing, data privacy, dispute resolution, automobile warranty, technology, and emerging areas. To learn more, visit bbbprograms.org.

About the National Advertising Division: The National Advertising Division of BBB National Programs provides independent self-regulation and dispute resolution services, guiding the truthfulness of advertising across the U.S. The National Advertising Division reviews national advertising in all media and its decisions set consistent standards for advertising truth and accuracy, delivering meaningful protection to consumers and leveling the playing field for business.

• Texas becomes 11th MICHELIN Guide destination in North America

• MICHELIN Guide Inspectors are already in the field, finding culinary gems

AUSTIN, July 16, 2024 — The MICHELIN Guide has arrived in the Lone Star State, as Michelin and Travel Texas today revealed the MICHELIN Guide Texas.

Texas is home to award-winning barbecue, locally sourced seafood and steaks, and savory Tex-Mex to name a few. The state’s vibrant and mature gastronomic scene showcases culinary talents rooted in Texas culture and inspired by international cuisines both near and far.

“The Texas culinary scene has proven to be an exhilarating one, with multicultural influences, homegrown ingredients and talent that is rich in ambition,” said Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of the MICHELIN Guides. “Foodies and travel enthusiasts alike will find something to enjoy, with such a broad dining scene spanning farm-to-table dishes, fusion cuisine, upscale dining and the famous Texas-style barbecue. Texas is a perfect fit for the MICHELIN Guide, based on the experiences of our anonymous Inspectors.”

The first MICHELIN Guide Texas selection will be revealed later this year, and it will feature culinary gems in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio.

The anonymous MICHELIN Guide Inspectors award the iconic MICHELIN Stars – one, two or three – to unparalleled cuisine. The Guide is also renowned for its Bib Gourmand selection, highlighting restaurants that offer great quality food at good prices. The MICHELIN Green Star is given to restaurants that are leaders in sustainable gastronomy. Recommended restaurants and special professional awards are also highlighted by the Inspectors.

The MICHELIN Guide’s anonymous Inspectors are already in the field, making dining reservations secretively and paying for all their meals to ensure they are treated the same as any other customer.

“The MICHELIN Guide Texas will illustrate to global travelers the culinary journey that’s waiting to be discovered in our state, featuring restaurants that embody our heritage and introducing innovative chefs and local artisans who are redefining our food scene,” said Tim Fennell, director of Travel Texas. “The introduction of the Guide will be a tremendous asset for Texas, promoting our rich and diverse food culture and elevating the restaurant scene to an international stage.”

The MICHELIN Guide is constantly observing the evolution of culinary destinations around the world. The MICHELIN Guide selections process remains completely independent. While selections remain fully independently determined by anonymous Inspectors, the MICHELIN Guide is working with Travel Texas on marketing and promotion activities only.

The 2024 Texas restaurant selection will join the MICHELIN Guide selection of hotels later this year and will feature the most unique and exciting places to stay in Texas and around the world. Every hotel in the Guide is chosen for its extraordinary style, service and personality – with options for all budgets – and each hotel can be booked directly through the MICHELIN Guide website or app.

History and methodology

The upcoming Texas restaurant selection will follow Michelin’s historical methodology, based on five universal criteria, to ensure each destination’s selection equity: 1) quality products; 2) the harmony of flavors; 3) the mastery of cooking techniques; 4) the voice and personality of the chef as reflected in the cuisine; 5) consistency between each visit and throughout the menu (each restaurant is inspected several times a year).

The MICHELIN Guide remains a reliable companion for any traveler seeking a great meal. The Guide was first published in France at the turn of the 20th century to encourage tire sales by giving practical advice to French motorists. Michelin’s Inspectors still use the same criteria and manner of selection that were used by Inspectors in the very beginning, now applied in destinations around the world.

Michelin published its first North American Guide in 2005 for New York. Guides have since been added in Chicago (2011); Washington, D.C. (2017); California (San Francisco in 2008, statewide 2019); Miami/Orlando/Tampa, Florida (2022); Toronto (2022); Vancouver (2022); Atlanta (2023); and Mexico (2024).

About Michelin North America, Inc.

Michelin, the leading mobility company, is working with tires, around tires and beyond tires to enable Motion for Life. Dedicated to enhancing its clients’ mobility and sustainability, Michelin designs and distributes the most suitable tires, services and solutions for its customers’ needs. Michelin provides digital services, maps and guides to help enrich travels and make them unique experiences. Bringing its expertise to new markets, the company is investing in high-technology materials, 3D printing and hydrogen, to serve a wide variety of industries—from aerospace to biotech. Headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, Michelin North America has approximately 23,500 employees and operates 35

production facilities in the United States and Canada. (michelinman.com)

About Travel Texas

Travel Texas, within the Governor’s Economic Development & Tourism Office, is responsible for the promotion of Texas as a premier travel destination for domestic and international visitors alike. In partnership with convention and visitor bureaus, local chambers of commerce, private travel-related organizations and associations, Travel Texas works diligently to showcase the rich culture, history, landscapes, and experiences that Texas offers.

The MICHELIN Guide Worldwide app for iOS and Android devices.

https://guide.michelin.com/
https://www.facebook.com/MICHELINGuideWorldwide
https://www.instagram.com/michelinguide
https://www.youtube.com/@MICHELINguideInternational

 

For more information, contact:
Carly Grieff
Michelin North America – External Communications
carly.grieff@michelin.com

New York, NY – July 16, 2024 – BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Division has closed a Fast-Track SWIFT challenge initiated by Oral Essentials, Inc. regarding claims that competitor GuruNanda’s coconut pulling oil products, Coconut + Mint Pulling Oil and Cocomint Pulling Oil with 7 Essential Oils, can “naturally reverse a cavity” and “reverse cavities.”

Oral Essentials produces and markets oral hygiene products under its Lumineux brand. GuruNanda makes personal and oral care products focusing on holistic care.

Fast-Track SWIFT is an expedited process designed for single-issue advertising cases brought to the National Advertising Division (NAD).

The challenged claims appeared in videos on influencers’ TikTok and Instagram accounts, with some reposted to GuruNanda’s official Instagram page.

GuruNanda informed NAD that it would permanently discontinue the challenged claims, including content made by affiliated influencers and content reposted to its own advertising and social media pages. Therefore, NAD did not review the claims on their merits and will treat the claims, for compliance purposes, as though NAD recommended they be discontinued.

In its advertiser statement, GuruNanda stated that it will comply with NAD’s decision and that it “did not authorize these claims,” however it is “committed to truthful advertising and will use every resource available to ensure that parties known to us, by any means, who are making these false statements about our products will cease making such claims.”

All BBB National Programs case decision summaries can be found in the case decision library. For the full text of NAD, NARB, and CARU decisions, subscribe to the online archive. This press release shall not be used for advertising or promotional purposes.

About BBB National Programs: BBB National Programs, a non-profit organization, is the home of U.S. independent industry self-regulation, currently operating more than a dozen globally recognized programs that have been helping enhance consumer trust in business for more than 50 years. These programs provide third-party accountability and dispute resolution services that address existing and emerging industry issues, create a fairer playing field for businesses, and a better experience for consumers. BBB National Programs continues to evolve its work and grow its impact by providing business guidance and fostering best practices in arenas such as advertising, child-and-teen-directed marketing, data privacy, dispute resolution, automobile warranty, technology, and emerging areas. To learn more, visit bbbprograms.org.

About the National Advertising Division: The National Advertising Division of BBB National Programs provides independent self-regulation and dispute resolution services, guiding the truthfulness of advertising across the U.S. The National Advertising Division reviews national advertising in all media and its decisions set consistent standards for advertising truth and accuracy, delivering meaningful protection to consumers and leveling the playing field for business.

Contact:
Jennie Rosenberg
Media Relations
BBB National Programs
press@bbbnp.org

New York, NY – July 15, 2024 – BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Division will refer advertising claims made by Prolacta Bioscience, Inc. for its Human Milk Fortifier to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for review. The referral was made after Prolacta declined to participate in the industry self-regulation process.  

Mead Johnson & Company, LLC challenged Prolacta’s claims that its human milk-based fortifier products have been shown in clinical studies to be more effective at improving health outcomes in premature infants as compared to cow milk-based fortifier products.

Express Claims

• Claim that “Compared to cow milk-based fortifiers, an Exclusive Human Milk Diet (EHMD) with Prolacta’s 100% human milk-based nutritional products has been clinically proven in multiple clinical studies to” produce certain health benefits.
• “When used as part of an exclusive human milk diet (EHMD), Prolacta’s nutritional products are clinically proven to improve health outcomes and reduce hospital costs for critically ill, extremely premature infants as compared to cow milk-based fortifier…”
• “When used as part of an EHMD, our nutritional products are clinically proven to increase survival and reduce the overall cost of care compared to cow milk– based fortifiers . . . in extremely premature infants.”
• “Prolacta products used as a part of that EHMD, as compared to cow milk–based fortifiers, have been shown in clinical studies to benefit critically ill, premature infants in the NICU weighing ≤1250g at birth in many ways…”

Implied Claims

• Prolacta’s HMF products have been proven through rigorous scientific testing to provide better health outcomes than all cow milk-based HMFs, including those manufactured by Mead Johnson.

Prolacta declined to substantively respond to the challenge. Due to Prolacta’s decision to not participate in the NAD self-regulatory process for these claims, NAD will refer the matter to the FTC and FDA for review and possible enforcement action.

All BBB National Programs case decision summaries can be found in the case decision library. For the full text of NAD, NARB, and CARU decisions, subscribe to the online archive. This press release shall not be used for advertising or promotional purposes.

About BBB National Programs: BBB National Programs, a non-profit organization, is the home of U.S. independent industry self-regulation, currently operating more than a dozen globally recognized programs that have been helping enhance consumer trust in business for more than 50 years. These programs provide third-party accountability and dispute resolution services that address existing and emerging industry issues, create a fairer playing field for businesses, and a better experience for consumers. BBB National Programs continues to evolve its work and grow its impact by providing business guidance and fostering best practices in arenas such as advertising, child-and-teen-directed marketing, data privacy, dispute resolution, automobile warranty, technology, and emerging areas. To learn more, visit bbbprograms.org.

About the National Advertising Division: The National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs provides independent self-regulation and dispute resolution services, guiding the truthfulness of advertising across the U.S. NAD reviews national advertising in all media and its decisions set consistent standards for advertising truth and accuracy, delivering meaningful protection to consumers and leveling the playing field for business.   

New York, NY – July 11, 2024 – In a Fast-Track SWIFT challenge brought by T-Mobile US, Inc., BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Division recommended that AT&T Services, Inc. discontinue or modify the claim that its Supplemental Coverage from Space (SCS) is presently available to consumers.

Cellular networks offer broad coverage throughout the United States, however, there is still limited cell signal coverage in large portions of the country. AT&T’s “Epic Bad Golf Day” commercial, starring Ben Stiller, presents a solution from AT&T to this issue through SCS coverage. AT&T has announced plans to offer SCS for customers in remote, unserved areas, however, concedes that this coverage is not yet available.

Fast-Track SWIFT is an expedited process for single-issue advertising cases brought to the National Advertising Division (NAD). At issue was whether AT&T’s “Epic Bad Golf Day” commercial conveys the message that SCS is presently available from AT&T.

NAD found one reasonable message conveyed is that AT&T is advertising the current availability of SCS from AT&T. Accordingly, NAD recommended that AT&T either discontinue the claim that SCS is presently available to AT&T consumers or modify the claim to clearly and conspicuously disclose that SCS is not available now.

NAD noted that nothing in its decision precludes AT&T from making truthful and non-misleading aspirational claims about SCS.

In its advertiser statement, AT&T stated that it will appeal NAD’s decision because it “maintains its position that there is no implied message of present satellite calling availability” and that “the commercial is simply a comedic romp that clearly showcases AT&T’s investment in the future of satellite calling.”

Appeals of NAD decisions are made to the BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Review Board (NARB), the appellate-level truth-in-advertising body of BBB National Programs.

All BBB National Programs case decision summaries can be found in the case decision library. For the full text of NAD, NARB, and CARU decisions, subscribe to the online archive. This press release shall not be used for advertising or promotional purposes.

About BBB National Programs: BBB National Programs, a non-profit organization, is the home of U.S. independent industry self-regulation, currently operating more than a dozen globally recognized programs that have been helping enhance consumer trust in business for more than 50 years. These programs provide third-party accountability and dispute resolution services that address existing and emerging industry issues, create a fairer playing field for businesses, and a better experience for consumers. BBB National Programs continues to evolve its work and grow its impact by providing business guidance and fostering best practices in arenas such as advertising, child-and-teen-directed marketing, data privacy, dispute resolution, automobile warranty, technology, and emerging areas. To learn more, visit bbbprograms.org.

About the National Advertising Division: The National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs provides independent self-regulation and dispute resolution services, guiding the truthfulness of advertising across the U.S. NAD reviews national advertising in all media and its decisions set consistent standards for advertising truth and accuracy, delivering meaningful protection to consumers and leveling the playing field for business.