Barrus v. Sylvania

55 F.3d 468 1995-1 Trade Cases P 70,996 , 34 U.S.P.Q.2d 1859 Jerry P. BARRUS; Paul C. Pfeifle, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. SYLVANIA, a division of GTE; GTE Products Corporation, a subsidiary of GTE Products of Connecticut Corporation; GTE Products of Connecticut Corp., a subsidiary of GTE Corp.; GTE Corp.; Osram Sylvania, Inc., Defendants-Appellees. No. 94-55040. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Submitted May 3, 1995. * Decided May 19, 1995. Marcus J. Berger, Howarth & Smith, Los Angeles, CA, for plaintiffs-appellants. M. Laurence Popofsky, Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe, San Francisco, CA, for defendants-appellees. Before: FLETCHER, BRUNETTI, and T.G. NELSON, Circuit Judges. BRUNETTI, Circuit Judge: 1 Appellants Jerry Barrus and Paul Pfeifle filed a class action lawsuit against Sylvania and its various parent corporations on behalf of all consumers who purchased Sylvania light bulbs before July 14, 1993. 1 Appellants claim that defendants violated section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. Sec. 1125 (a)(1)(B) (Supp. V 1993), by falsely advertising Sylvania "Energy Saver" light bulbs. 2 According to…