Opinion ID: 77996
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Materiality to Consumers' Purchasing Decisions

Text: The evidence amply supports the district court's conclusion that Axiom's statements are material to consumers' purchasing decisions. Even when a court finds that a defendant's ads are literally false, the plaintiff, to succeed on a claim of false advertising, must still establish that `the defendant's deception is likely to influence the purchasing decision.' Johnson & Johnson, 299 F.3d at 1250 (quoting Cashmere & Camel Hair Mfrs. Inst. v. Saks Fifth Ave., 284 F.3d 302, 311 (1st Cir.2002)). The materiality requirement is based on the premise that not all deceptions affect consumer decisions. Id. The types of false claims that the district court enjoined  regarding NASA affiliation and FDA approval  logically would influence a doctor's decision to purchase the DRX 9000 over a competing machine without those qualities. These statements not only represent the quality of the device, but they provide marketing opportunities to the purchasing doctor when he or she in turn is advertising to prospective patients. In fact, after the onset of litigation against Axiom, several doctors who had purchased DRX 9000s sent letters to Axiom expressing their dissatisfaction with the possibility that they might not be able to use Axiom's claims, if the claims proved untrue, to attract patients. These letters provide clear evidence that Axiom's representations would affect doctors' decisions whether to purchase a DRX 9000. Based on this and all other evidence currently in the record, the district court did not err in its conclusion that these false statements are material to consumers' purchasing decisions.