Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of United States, Inc.
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''Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of United States, Inc.'', 466 U.S. 485 (1984), was a product disparagement case ultimately decided by the
Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
. The Court held, on a 6–3 vote, in favor of
Consumers Union A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. T ...
, the publisher of ''
Consumer Reports Consumer Reports (CR), formerly Consumers Union (CU), is an American nonprofit consumer organization dedicated to independent product testing, investigative journalism, consumer-oriented research, public education, and consumer advocacy. Founded ...
'' magazine, ruling that proof of "actual malice" was necessary in product disparagement cases raising
First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
issues, as set out by the case of ''
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan ''New York Times Co. v. Sullivan'', 376 U.S. 254 (1964), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision ruling that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution's freedom of speech protections limit the ability of American public officials to sue for ...
'' (1964). The Court ruled that the First Circuit Court of Appeals had correctly concluded that Bose had not presented proof of actual malice. The magazine ''
Consumer Reports Consumer Reports (CR), formerly Consumers Union (CU), is an American nonprofit consumer organization dedicated to independent product testing, investigative journalism, consumer-oriented research, public education, and consumer advocacy. Founded ...
'' had published in 1970 a review of an unusual loudspeaker system manufactured by
Bose Corporation Bose Corporation () is an American manufacturing company that predominantly sells audio equipment. The company was established by Amar Bose in 1964 and is based in Framingham, Massachusetts. It is best known for its home audio systems and speak ...
, called the
Bose 901 Home audio products sold by Bose Corporation are listed below. 2.1 channel amplifiers From 1990 until the early 2010s, Bose sold several 2.1 channel audio systems, which used two small satellite speakers and a subwoofer. Early systems used an ...
. The review expressed skepticism of the system's quality and recommended that consumers delay purchase until they had investigated for themselves whether the loudspeaker system's unusual attributes would suit them. Bose objected to numerous statements in the article, including the sentences, "Worse, individual instruments heard through the Bose system seemed to grow to gigantic proportions and tended to wander about the room. For instance, a violin appeared to be wide and a piano stretched from wall to wall." Bose demanded a retraction when they learned that ''Consumer Reports'' changed what the original reviewer wrote about the speakers in his pre-publication draft, which the magazine refused to do.


Lower court history

The Massachusetts district court had heard testimony from an author of the article that the instruments heard through the 901's speakers tended to wander "along the wall," rather than "about the room," as had been stated in the article; and found that this constituted a publication of a false statement with the knowledge that it was false. It had found Consumers Union liable for damages. On appeal, Bose had argued that the district court's findings of fact could not be set aside by the appeals court under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 52(a) unless the findings were "clearly erroneous." The appeals court, however, had agreed with Consumers Union that under the precedent set by ''
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan ''New York Times Co. v. Sullivan'', 376 U.S. 254 (1964), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision ruling that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution's freedom of speech protections limit the ability of American public officials to sue for ...
'' (1964), the appeals court had to review the entire matter ''de novo'' in order to determine whether the false fact was published with "actual malice." As Bose had not presented sufficient evidence of actual malice, the appeals court ruled, the judgment was required to be overturned.


See also

* ''
Suzuki v. Consumers Union ''Suzuki Motor Corp. v. Consumers Union of U.S.'' was a 1996 lawsuit initiated by Suzuki of North America against Consumers Union, filed eight years after their magazine ''Consumer Reports'' gave a very unfavorable and much disputed review of the ...
'' *
List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 466 This is a list of all the United States Supreme Court cases from volume 466 of the ''United States Reports The ''United States Reports'' () are the official record ( law reports) of the Supreme Court of the United States. They include rulings, ...


References

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External links

* {{US1stAmendment, press, state=expanded United States Supreme Court cases United States defamation case law v. Consumers Union of the United States 1984 in United States case law Consumer Reports United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court