Earlier this month, Epson announced that a default judgement had been entered in its lawsuit against AuKing, a top-selling brand on Amazon in the United States.
Epson are committed to the implementation of internationally recognised and accepted brightness standards to ensure customers can make informed decisions when purchasing a new projector.
Failing to follow standardised methods to measure projectors' brightness and using misleading terms such as "Lamp Brightness", "Lux" or "LED Lumens" rather than the recognised "Lumens" as defined by ISO 21118:2020 and IDMS 15.4, impacts on customers' ability to compare models and actual projector performance.
As cited by Epson, testing found that one of the projectors AuKing claimed to be 9.500 lumens actually measured at less than 1% of that, or lower than 95 lumens.
The court found that AuKing was competing unfairly "by using false, deceptive, or misleading statements of fact that misrepresent the nature, quality and characteristics of its projector products".
Mike Isgrig, the vice president, consumer sales and marketing of Epson America is quoted as saying:
"Consumers count on companies to provide reliable and accurate product information and performance specs. As an ongoing issue, brands that are falsifying lumen claims are not only hurting the end-user experiences of consumers, but also the overall perception of projection viewing, damaging the industry as whole. The highly inaccurate lumen claims provided by AuKing is an example of gross negligence on the part of a brand and its commitment to truth in advertising."
As a result of the lawsuit, AuKing was ordered to pay more than $500.000 in damages and prohibited from using any false or misleading advertising as well as from selling projectors online, including on Amazon.com and their own website until false claims are corrected.
AuKing are not the first manufacturer who have faced legal action regarding their projectors' specification.
In 2020 Epson filed lawsuits against other Amazon sellers: Vankyo, WiMiUS, GooDee, and Bomaker while in 2022-2023, Acrojoy, Anker, VAVA, Wemax and Xgimi settled cases brought on by Epson and agreed to correct quoted lumens for their projectors.
As projector specialists, it is important to us that customers are able to compare models easily and with confidence so they can make an informed decision and that their experience of projection is not tainted by misleading claims. This is why we supply projectors from trusted manufacturers who follow international industry standards so you know that the brightness levels quoted will match your expectations in person.
