Court sours on WSI's claims against Quince

Williams-Sonoma, Inc. v. Last Brand, Inc., 2026 WL 2970363, No. 5:25-cv-10118-EJD (N.D. Cal. Sept. 30, 2026)

Williams-Sonoma (WSI), which also owns Pottery Barn, West Elm, and Rejuvenation, sued Last Brand, commonly known as Quince, for state and federal false advertising. The court dismissed the claims. The parties compete in the market for kitchen and home goods. “Quince advertises that it sells products comparable to those of traditional retailers like WSI, but at significantly lower prices. To accomplish this, Quince represents that it partners directly with factories to cut out the middlemen, design and produce Quince’s products, and ship the products straight to their customers—thereby passing on the savings to their consumers.”

WSI alleged that the cost savings were actually the result of cutting corners and compromising quality, making comparisons to WSI’s products false.

First, the court found that Rule 9(b) applied to the Lanham Act claim since it sounded in fraud (even though courts often don’t do this in trademark cases).

WSI alleged that Quince falsely represented that certain products were made of Global Organic Textile Standard-certified (“GOTS-certified”) cotton or organic long-staple cotton, citing a Wirecutter review that questioned the GOTS-certification of Quince’s towels, and then explained that, when reached for comment, Quince confirmed that the certification of the towels was actually under review and that it would be removed from its website. Wirecutter also questioned the GOTS-certification of Quince’s bedsheet sets, but later verified this certification, and expressed skepticism at statements on Quince’s website that its bedsheet sets were made of “organic long-staple cotton” based on a sustainable-fashion expert’s opinion that it is impossible to have cotton that is both organic and long-staple.

WSI relied only on the Wirecutter article, which didn’t satisfy Rule 9(b). It didn’t explain “when, where, or what Quince said as to the GOTS-certification of its towels. As to the bedsheets, the statements made in the Article alone are insufficient to plausibly allege the falsity of the bedsheets’ GOTS certification or Quince’s claim that the bedsheets’ cotton is both organic and long-staple.” Wirecutter’s skepticism was insufficient; neither the expert it talked to nor WSI allegedly actually tested Quince’s cotton or investigated its origins. The article even said that GOTS confirmed the certification, and anyway WSI didn’t point to any Quince ad making the challenged representation. A false advertising claim can’t be based “solely on statements made in a sewn-in label that a consumer would not see until after purchasing the product, as such labels are not considered advertising.”

example Beyond Compare chart

Quince provides a “Beyond Compare” chart on many of its product webpages, providing a side-by-side comparison of each product’s price, delivery cost, provision of warranty, and other considerations. WSI argued that Quince’s charts were literally false because they state or imply that Quince sells the same products that WSI sells but for less. The court found that they didn’t. There was no express statement that the products were the “same,” nor a clear implication. The charts “simply compare the two companies’ products (as well as those of other companies) side-by-side and indicate how the products are similar but also different.”

“Like” Pottery Barn/West Elm/Williams Sonoma statements, e.g. “Like Pottery Barn rugs, but half the price”: Similarly, “like” means “similar to.” It was implausible that a reasonable consumer would conclude based on these “like” statements that Quince and WSI sell identical products.

“Plus, it’s 50% less than other brands for the same product.”: In an Instagram ad, a woman states that “I couldn’t justify spending $300 on bedding at Pottery Barn,” and that she purchased a duvet cover from Quince because “it’s 50% less than other brands for the same product.” WSI alleged that this was literally false, but the court agreed with Quince that, in context, it wasn’t literally false. Among other tings, overlaid text in the ad states that Quince’s duvet cover is “50% LESS than Pottery Barn and [Restoration Hardware],” and reasonable consumers know that Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware, which are separate companies, sell distinct products. Thus, one “reasonable interpretation of this ad is that Quince sells the same type of product—i.e., duvet covers—as WSI but not the exact same products.” And WSI didn’t allege facts showing misleadingness.

Also, WSI didn’t allege facts to support its conclusory assertion that Quince’s products were inferior. It cited only a single customer review describing a Quince Sectional as being not “comparable to ... [Pottery Barn]” and states “in this case you truly get what you pay for.” “The Court cannot plausibly infer from a handful of negative reviews that Quince’s products are of inferior quality, particularly in light of the number of positive reviews and without any facts as to the comparable quality of WSI’s products.” Even if WSI had alleged such facts, it didn’t plausibly allege deception from “one lone customer review,” who might not even have been misled themselves.

WSI’s claim that the Beyond Compare charts falsely magnify the savings consumers can expect by purchasing from Quince also failed. For example, Quince advertised a handwoven jute rug that it sells for $299.90, and listed a Pottery Barn rug in the Beyond Compare chart as selling for $599.90. WSI alleged that Pottery Barn’s “Haven Jute Braided Rug,” with similar attributes as Quince’s rug, actually costs $399. Quince responded that that rug was not handwoven, as Quince’s was, and that Pottery Barn’s $599 “Delmont” rug had the same attributes as Quince’s rug and is handwoven. Moreover, the charts disclose that Quince gathered competitor pricing information within a specific timeframe and that pricing is subject to change. WSI argued that this disclosure was an admission that the listed competitor pricing was false and misleading, but the court didn’t agree.

“That WSI points to other similar WSI products with lower prices does not make it plausible that Quince advertised false prices. Nor has WSI pled specific facts to show that a reasonable consumer would be misled into believing that WSI sells no other similar products, at lower or higher prices, than the WSI product listed in Quince’s chart.” Without falsity, there was no need to consider any effect of the disclosure, but it wasn’t an admission of falsity.

Similarly, it wasn’t false not to identify a specific competing WSI product, and WSI’s argument that Quince didn’t substantiate its claims of sameness was irrelevant because lack of substantiation can’t support a private plaintiff claim.

Finally, WSI alleged that Quince misrepresented its product reviews: an ad stating “[Quince’s] Duvet Cover Set Has 1,000+ 5-Star Reviews” was allegedly literally false, and another stating that “200,000 5-star reviews can’t be wrong” was both false and misleading. In addition, WSI alleged that Quince misleadingly rounded up the average number of stars received by a product. For example, Quince’s representation of “***** (447 REVIEWS)” at the top of its duvet cover set product page allegeldy falsely implied that the product received 447 five-star reviews, but the average rating was 4.7. And customers can earn points for leaving reviews; they can redeem 1,000 points for $10 off. This is allegedly false and misleading “because Quince fails to disclose that its reviews are incentivized.”

WSI alleged that the duvet cover set actually had fewer than one thousand five-star reviews in September and October 2025, when the ad was running. Quince’s factual dispute (it argued that WSI miscounted) didn’t matter for plausibility, but WSI failed to plead facts showing materiality or injury.

As for “200,000 5-star reviews can’t be wrong,” which was allegedly false because the Quince cookware set depicted in the ad only had 37 reviews, the court agreed that one plausible meaning was that it referred to all Quince product reviews. It was also plausible that it was misleading, but WSI didn’t plead facts showing misleadingness.

As for rounding up product ratings, the court found that additional context proximate to the “5 star” statements clearly showed that the product received an average of 4.7 stars. “The exact product rating is conveniently available to customers before visiting the product page, as well as displayed at the top of the review section of each product page itself. It is, thus, implausible that most reasonable consumers would not understand that the stars displayed at the top of the product page are rounded and be misled given the surrounding context.”

Review incentives: Quince argued that customers receive the incentive simply by writing a review, regardless of whether the review is positive or negative. And Lanham Act claims have to involve affirmative statements, not pure failure to disclose.

As for unpled falsity, the different kinds of falsity alleged by WSI failed to plausibly allege that “all of Quince’s false advertisements are similar such that the Court can consider them as a whole. Nor does the Court find that WSI has sufficiently alleged representative examples of this larger fraudulent scheme under Rule 9(b)’s heightened particularity requirements.” To be sure “WSI need not plead every instance of Quince’s alleged false advertising,” but the current complaint didn’t offer “any parameters or limitations as to this amorphous false advertising scheme” that would put Quince on notice of the claims against it. “Nor is Quince better situated to know the content of all of its advertisements, as Quince’s website and advertisements are publicly available.”

The court did find that WSI had standing under California consumer protection law, reasoning (correctly in my view) that although UCL etc. false advertising liability requires that the consumer rely on the false advertising, it does not require that the plaintiff do so as long as there is harm causation.