Toshiba Class Action Filed over Deceptive ‘LED’ TVs

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A class action lawsuit alleges that electronics manufacturer Toshiba “has perpetrated a massive consumer fraud upon thousands of unsuspecting purchasers” by deceptively labeling and advertising its “LED” televisions, because they actually use the same display technology as older LCD televisions.

The Toshiba false advertising class action lawsuit claims that Toshiba is marketing its “new” LED technology to get a higher price for substantially similar technology, and to maybe convince some owners of LCD televisions to “upgrade.”

The complaint states that LED is short for “light emitting diode,” or the light source behind the screen, while LCD stands for “liquid crystal display,” which describes the TV screen itself. Both “LCD” and “LED” televisions use the same technology for the screen; the only difference is that new Toshiba televisions have changed the light source from CCFLs (short for cold cathode fluorescent lights) to LEDs.

And that difference is not properly explained by Toshiba, according to the class action. The complaint asserts that televisions with LEDs instead of CCFLs have been sold since 2004, and Toshiba started selling them in 2009. But those televisions were not marketed as “LEDs” – they were all branded as LCD televisions, regardless of the light source, because they were competing with plasma TVs as a distinct display technology, the class action explains. The complaint claims that LED-lit televisions did not sell well, because they were more expensive.

But now that LCD televisions have dominated the market, Toshiba “made the marketing decision that gives rise to this lawsuit: Toshiba dropped all references to the televisions being LCD TVs and began marketing the LED-lit LCD TVs as a new, advanced, technologically superior species of television, a so-called LED TV, which was allegedly different from and better than LCD TVs, even though both species of television use the same liquid crystal displays to generate the same screen image,” the class action proclaims.

As evidence, the complaint points to Toshiba’s website, which has separate sections for “LED Televisions” and “LCD Televisions,” which the lawsuit argues is inherently misleading.

According to the class action, an actual “LED television” is a TV where each pixel is a separate light-emitting diode, meaning that they self-illuminate and do not require a separate light source. The complaint states that “Actual LED TVs are currently available for sale, but at prices that only the wealthy can afford; the televisions are far out of the reach of mainstream consumers.”

Plaintiffs Brandon Martinez, Jeff Pile, and Diana Rodriguez all claim that they each purchased a Toshiba LED television “even though it was priced higher than comparable model ‘LCD TVs’ offered for sale, because of Toshiba’s marketing assertions on the carton containing the television that it was an ‘LED TV,’ as opposed to an ‘LCD TV.’ ”

The plaintiffs seek to represent a Class of all consumers who purchased a television for personal use within the last four years in the U.S. that was “a Toshiba-brand LED-lit LCD television that is sold in a box that describes the television as an LED TV or LED HDTV or LED television.” The class action asks for restitution to consumers who were deceived, as well as a court order requiring Toshiba to change its marketing of its “LED” televisions.

The plaintiffs are represented by Hayward D. Kaiser and Gilbert S. Lee of Mitchell Silberg & Knupp LLP, Jonathan Shub of Kohn Swift & Graf, P.C., Francis O. Scarpulla and Patrick B. Clayton of the Scarpulla Law Firm, and Daniel R. Shulman, Gregory R. Merz, Kathryn J. Bergstrom, and Dean C. Eyler of Gray Plant & Mooty.

The Toshiba Deceptive LED Television Class Action Lawsuit is Brandon Martinez, et al. v. Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., et al., Case No. 2:16-cv-02551, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.