Question:
Abbott Laboratories makes and sells Ensure, a nutritional supplement beverage (NSB). Ensure has consistently held the greatest market share of all NSBs on the market. Gerber Products Co. reformulated a former product, Resource, into an NSB and launched an advertising campaign. The campaign asserted, among other things, that "America Prefers Resource Over Ensure" and "National Preference Winner Resource Beats Ensure." Abbot asserts that Gerber's claim is false because the tests that Gerber relied upon to support its claim were conducted as taste tests and not as tests indicating overall preference. Resource and Ensure are both used for medicinal or medical reasons and are substantially similar in nutritional value. Abbot filed suit under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, alleging that Gerber's advertising claims were literally false. Are they? Why, or why not?