gunnercooke matter leads to significant ASA ruling for the diamonds industry

October 12, 2021
Rosie Burbidge

Partner

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Rosie Burbidge, Intellectual Property Partner at law firm gunnercooke, has advised Diotima&Co. Limited on a complaint to the ASA regarding misleading advertising of diamonds.

The challenge was made by Diotima&Co. against Kinetique Limited, trading as Ethica Diamonds. gunnercooke’s client understood that Kinetique’s diamonds were made of substitute materials and therefore an advertisement for ‘diamonds’ was misleading to consumers. The complaint referred to The National Association of Jewellers’ “Diamond Terminology Guideline”.

Following a year of work by gunnercooke and Diotima&Co., the claim has been upheld by the ASA with a new ruling stating that the ad has breached multiple codes. The ASA rules that future advertising must ensure that ‘the term diamond is accompanied by an identifier to make clear the nature of the product’.

The full ruling can be found online at ASA.org.uk.

Diotima&Co. Limited, based in Cornwall, are a leading pioneer in diamond alternative technologies and laboratory grown diamonds and precious gems. Director Avila Foreman commented; “We are thrilled with the decision from the ASA, which is a significant step forward for the diamond industry in ensuring there is clarity for consumers with regards to authentic, natural diamonds versus the synthetic diamond alternatives that we are seeing come to market. Thank you to Rosie and the gunnercooke team for their work over the past year that has led to this ruling.”

Rosie Burbidge added: “False claims to sell lab-grown diamonds are very damaging for trust in this new thriving market. It’s very important that consumers understand what they are buying, particularly when this might be a key purchase for an engagement or a major life milestone. This is an important ruling for consumers and the diamond industry as a whole. We are delighted to have worked with our client to enable it to be achieved.”

Katie Gillespie, Compliance Manager at the National Association of Jewellers (NAJ) also provided comment: “This is excellent news to have The Diamond Terminology guidance referenced in this case. The jewellery community absolutely must not be leaving anything to chance with descriptions and must always clearly identify products with transparency. In our eyes the ASA ruling does now set a welcome precedent, as well as a warning, to jewellers that do not follow the terminology guidelines 100 per cent.”

The Diamond Terminology Guidance from the NAJ can be found here.

gunnercooke is a full-service commercial professional services firm, founded to change the way legal services are delivered to clients and how lawyers balance their lives. The firm’s innovative model sees 250 partners with a minimum 10,000 hours practicing experience becoming trusted advisers to their clients, providing certainty of price and delivering the best quality advice.