[/floatr]The Fair Trade Commission has ruled against a mobile phone product which claims to increase battery life and boost reception. It consists of a copper sheet which is placed against the battery inside the handset. The FTC has run tests on the product and declared that it is completely ineffective and has asked firms to stop selling it on the basis of false claims. You'd think that such a device would only be marketed by some fly-by-night outfit but it appears that one of the companies involved is a subsidiary of entertainment giant Yoshimoto Kogyo. Around 450,000 units were sold over the eighteenth period ending in December last year. With prices ranging from 980 yen to Yoshimoto's 2,625 yen offering, this probably translates to total revenue of 900 million yen. The companies were also warned about using the English expression "Made in Japan" in their materials since the products were actually produced in South Korea. The FTC also found the claim that there were patent applications for the device in 28 countries was false. Applications have only been entered in 5 countries. You can still see one of the product websites with all these misrepresentations here. Lower down on the page, you can see where the product was described by in a non-no magazine feature as the top-selling mobile phone accessory.
Source Asahi (Japanese)
