The US Supreme Court has said it will decide whether footwear maker Nike can be sued for false advertising over a publicity campaign defending the wages, treatment and safety conditions of workers at overseas factories.
The justices agreed today to hear a Nike appeal of a California Supreme Court ruling that Nike's statements about its labour practices were commercial speech that did not deserve full First Amendment protection under the Constitution.
The important free-speech case stemmed from a 1998 civil lawsuit filed in California claiming that Nike wilfully misled the public about working conditions for the Vietnamese, Chinese and Indonesian labourers who produce its footwear.
The lawsuit by Nike critic Marc Kasky was among a number of high-profile attacks on the company over conditions at Asian factories where workers, mostly women aged 18 to 24, are subcontracted to produce most of its shoes.
