Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Ancestry.com Files a Trademark Case Against DNA Diagnostics Center for the Marketing of "AncestryByDNA"

I became aware today of a trademark case recently filed by Ancestry.com vs. DNA Diagnostics Center.



Although DDC's "AncestryByDNA" test has been around in one form or another for many years prior to the launch of "AncestryDNA" by Ancestry.com in 2012, I have seen significant market confusion due to the way AncestrybyDNA has been marketed through sites such as LivingSocial and GroupOn since that time. I wrote about this back in 2012 here.  In fact, I am the "third party" mentioned in the complaint: "On our about July 29, 2012, Ancestry was contacted by a third party who was concerned about consumer confusion resulting from an online 'LivingSocial' advertisement for 'Ancestry DNA.' Confusingly, the LivingSocial ad was entitled 'AncestryDNA' and advertised DDC's services at the website AncestrybyDNA.com." Since this time the confusion has continued and, as a result, we have seen many people who intended to purchase the AncestryDNA product extremely disappointed upon receiving their AncestrybyDNA results. It is such a shame to see people spending their hard-earned money and receiving a product that is virtually useless for genealogical purposes. In some cases, this was the only opportunity an individual had to test a family member, which as genetic genealogist know is of great importance to our research.  It is also an unfortunate and unnecessary deterrent for those who might otherwise have become more involved in our community since this test may discourage them from any further participation in genealogy/ancestry DNA testing.


Ancestry.com vs DDC Filing

In the very large genetic genealogy and unknown parentage-focused groups that I administer, we are seeing this brand confusion increasingly often -- almost on a daily basis lately -- and so I am very glad to see this addressed. All of my team spends a significant amount of time trying to clarify the difference between the two tests and save people from the impending disappointment of purchasing a product they believed was something else entirely.

Some people may argue that this is Ancestry using their vast resources to bury a smaller competitor, but DDC is a large, successful paternity testing company and the product in question is only a very small part of their business. I am quite confident that they make plenty of money without the extra income generated by people purchasing a test in error. I am not an intellectual property legal expert (unlike my friend and colleague Blaine Bettinger), so I will refrain from technical analysis of this case. However I will say that after reading the complaint thoroughly and from my own experience observing the marketplace, I believe that Ancestry.com is in the right and has a very strong and persuasive case. They addressed all of the misgivings I had about their position in the complaint. While it is true that DDC was using "AncestrybyDNA" before Ancestry started using "AncestryDNA," the market confusion due to their promotional methods is significant and very damaging. (All you have to do is read the comment section of my original blog post on the subject to see the evidence.) I hope this suit will put a stop to that.

One other very interesting thing to me is that Ancestry.com states in the filing that ConnectMyDNA, (the other useless "ancestry" DNA test that Judy Russell wrote about here) has also been marketed by DDC, "Previously, DDC apparently advertised its services through LivingSocial under the trademark CONNECTMYDNA and the website www.connectmydna.com." I checked the site registration and sure enough, the site is registered by DDC.

Thank you to Ancestry.com for taking action to clear up this confusion. It is my sincerest wish that consumers will no longer be fooled into spending money on these products that do not fulfill the purpose for which they were purchased.



7 comments:

  1. I was fooled. I just got my results back from ancestryBYdna and you are right.....useless. It just tells me the region that I am from instead of the specific place like Connect My DNA did. Connect My DNA did a much better job for a fraction of the price.

    If there's a class action suit, I would love to join!!

    Signed,
    Fooled, Again

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry to hear this! I am surprised that you thought ConnectMyDNA did a good job. That is the first time I have ever heard that.

      Delete
    2. I hate to break it to you, unknown, but ConnectMyDNA is not a robust test for ancestry, either. They use CODIS type markers, which are useful for identifying an individual, but they were not designed to be informative about populations. If the probability of observing your profile is five in a billion Kenyans but only three in a billion Italians, that doesn't really mean that you have (recent) African ancestry.

      Delete
  2. I can't wait to see how this turns out and if there will be a class action against AncestrybyDNA. I am convinced that they were fully aware that most, if not ALL, of the people who purchased their kit thought that they were purchasing AncestryDNA. Even if DDC gave everyone their money back I feel bad for the people who only had ONE chance at testing someone. I had someone tested by Ancestry.com and the 1st sample was bad. They sent a 2nd test and the sample was good: Unfortunately, the person died unexpectedly before the results came in. Now, I can't conduct any further testing on her. Imagine if I had tested with the DDC kits and then she passed. This is a very serious and emotional quest for many people. Big business just doesn't get it! Every time they run one of those Groupon or Living Social sales, the message boards get flooded with people saying they got one or asking if they should get it. And then there is a barrage of responses from those in the know, warning people NOT to buy! So thank you CeCe for your part in getting that ball rolling!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am one of those people who waited for years before getting tested and I was so excited, until I realized my mistake!!! Unfortunately I did not read about this company until after the fact! I felt like I made such a "stupid" mistake but now I am beginning to feel like it was deception on the company's part!!!

      Delete
  3. My brother was swindled by them too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I too thought that this was legit, I still have not heard back but Groupon very willingly sold the product. I think that Google should be held culpable as well. I would like to be part of a class action.

    ReplyDelete