Opinion ID: 704085
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: False Statement about Previous Litigation

Text: 7 Omicron's false statement that it had brought three cases specifically concerning infringement of Food Source One does not give rise to liability under the Lanham Act. Because Group W claims damages in the form of lost profits, it cannot establish causation unless it can show that the false statement about litigation caused the damage by influencing pharmacists to forego purchasing Food Plus. See Harper House, 889 F.2d at 210; cf. U.S. Healthcare, Inc. v. Blue Cross, 898 F.2d 914, 922 (3d Cir.1990) (holding that defendant is not liable under the Lanham Act unless the false statement was material because it would be likely to influence the purchasing decision). The record contains no evidence that the erroneous statement had that impact. The fact that Omicron filed two rather than three enforcement suits would be unlikely to influence pharmacists' purchasing decisions--the message that Omicron was willing to defend its intellectual property rights in its products, including Food Source One, would be the same in either case. Accordingly, the false statement about previous litigation likely had little or no causal connection with any damage [Group W] might have suffered. Harper House, 889 F.2d at 210.