Pet Microchip Database Fee Lawsuit Advances Against Merck Unit

Pet owners who allege Merck & Co. unit Intervet Inc. misled them into buying a membership to keep their contact information in a free database for microchipped animals can proceed with their proposed class suit.

Intervet, which does business as Home Again, offers services for locating lost pets. After a pet receives a microchip, the owner receives paperwork to enroll the microchip number and owner’s contact information in the Home Again database.

The contact information remains in the database for free, and owners may update their information at any time for no additional cost, five plaintiffs say in a suit ...