In the case of GTE Sylvania, Inc. v. Consumers Union of the United States, Inc., 1979, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of GTE Sylvania by a unanimous decision. The dispute arose when Consumers Union published an article criticizing one of GTE's television models and subsequently refused to retract it upon request from GTE who claimed that they had fixed the issues mentioned in their product. This led to a defamation lawsuit filed by GTE against Consumers Union for damaging its reputation and sales with false information about its product quality. However, the court held that under First Amendment protections for freedom of speech and press, even if some statements were incorrect or misleading as long as there was no actual malice involved - meaning knowingly publishing false information or doing so with reckless disregard for truth - then such publications are protected from defamation claims.

In the dissenting opinion for GTE Sylvania, Inc. v. Consumers Union of the United States, Inc., Justice Brennan disagreed with the majority's ruling that a corporation could not be held liable for false advertising under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act unless it was in direct competition with another company harmed by its deceptive practices. He argued that this interpretation was too narrow and inconsistent with Congress' intent to protect consumers from misleading advertisements regardless of whether they were made by competitors or non-competitors alike. Furthermore, he contended that limiting liability only to competing businesses would undermine consumer protection efforts because many companies engage in false advertising without directly harming their competitors but still causing significant harm to consumers who rely on these ads when making purchasing decisions.