“Fake Critic” Trial Will Proceed

Sony will have to answer to charges that it invented a movie critic and attached quotes from non-existent reviews to several of its films. The studio admitted to having concocted the critic known as David Manning, but had argued that free speech laws shielded it from prosecution for the deception. The California Court of Appeals disagreed, declaring Manning’s quotes to be commercial speech, which the Supreme Court has said does not enjoy full First Amendment protection.