Earlier this week, a unanimous but fractured Supreme Court ruled that a controversial provision in the Lanham Act prohibiting the registration of trademarks that disparage “persons, living or dead, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols” violates the First Amendment. This decision may be most remembered for the impact it may have on the NFL’s Washington Redskins,

New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo has announced plans to file suit against Arbitron, alleging that the company has deceptively claimed that its new radio ratings system fairly measures audiences, when in fact it underrepresents African American and Latino listeners.

Arbitron has decided that the best defense in this instance is an offense, and has beat Attorney General Cuomo to court. Before the AG’s office could file its suit, Arbitron filed its own suit against the attorney general in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeking to protect its free speech rights through injunctive relief.

The dispute concerns Arbitron’s long-running efforts to replace its paper-diary method of measuring audiences with new electronic Portable People Meters (PPMs). Because paper diaries rely on the memory of the participating listeners, they have been criticized as being unreliable and inaccurate. The PPMs are worn by participants and pick up hidden codes in radio broadcasts, thereby automatically recording participants’ listening habits.Continue Reading Arbitron, NY AG Go To Court Over Ratings Spat