Sunday, November 22, 2009

Pleading false advertising after Iqbal

Tseng v. Marukai Corp. U.S.A., 2009 WL 3841933 (C.D. Cal.)

Tseng alleged patent infringement and false advertising, but didn’t include the level of detail required after Iqbal and Twombly. Reciting the elements of a cause of action isn’t enough, so allegations that defendants sold goods that infringed plaintiff’s patent were insufficient. Likewise, the allegation that “defendants falsely advertised their infringing goods as genuine and authorized products by imprinting the Patent In Suit's patent number” was insufficient, because false advertising is a legal conclusion that requires allegation of underlying facts. Tseng needed to offer facts indicating what kind of advertising defendants engaged in, what they said, and why it was false. Dismissed, with leave to amend.

No comments: