Businesses can invoke the Lanham Act in suing other companies for false advertising, even if they are not direct competitors, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Tuesday.
Justice Antonin Scalia, writing the opinion in Lexmark International Inc. v. Static Control Components Inc., said that in a Lanham Act case “a plaintiff must plead (and ultimately prove) an injury to a commercial interest in sales or business reputation proximately caused by the defendant’s misrepresentations,” but need not be a competitor, as some appeals courts have ruled.
