|
|
Article: Nike Case Questions Issues of Free Speech.(and false advertising )
- Article from:
- WWD
- Article date:
- January 23, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Conde Nast Publications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Byline: Rosemary Feitelberg and Joanna Ramey NEW YORK - The Nike Inc. case just accepted by the U.S. Supreme Court will weigh free speech protections for corporations - and possibly write new ones.
But the case started out on a different legal track - as a claim of false advertising against the sporting goods giant.
Marc Kasky, a San Francisco activist, said he decided to sue Nike in 1997 after reading in The New York Times about an Ernst & Young audit, commissioned by Nike, that found employees in a large Vietnam sneaker contractor were exposed to cancer-causing toluene and suffered a high rate of respiratory problems.
The audit was leaked to ...