Dive Summary:

• The National Advertising Division (NAD) is going after Nest Labs, the makers of the Nest programmable thermostat, in a fight over Nest’s advertising claims.
• NAD has asked Nest to revoke or modify claims that say Nest thermostats “can automatically lower air-conditioning costs up to 30%”, in addition to exclusivity claims pertaining to “System Match,” “Filter Reminders” and “Built-in Level”. NAD also rejects how Nest characterizes the reasons why 89% of American’s don’t program their thermostats. Nest says “They’re so complicated that most people don’t bother to program them” and “Other thermostats waste energy.” But NAD questions this explanation.
• The NAD attack follows a suit by Honeywell last year claiming Nest Labs infringed on various Honeywell patents.

Dive Insight:

Nest has been valued at $800 million and partnered up with U.S. utilities to provide smart thermostats in energy efficiency pushes. If something about their devices or marketing needs to be fixed, those partners need to know.