Libel?

[adejones]

Good morning

I have been made aware by a new customer that a competitor of mine has made some untrue claims to them in the hope that they would terminate their plans to switch provider and stay with them, the claims are regarding pricing and also that customers have left me to pay a higher price for their service because they're so much better (although I can prove that none of my ex-customers are with my competitor, I have already checked).

Is this libel? I am forming a response to their email.

Thanks.

 

[DontAsk]

I would re-phrase the question as is it worth doing anything about, other than a strongly worded e-mail to let them know that you know what they are up to?

Some notes of what is going on, in your marketing material, without explicitly naming them, might also help.

Otherwise, how deep are your pockets?

 

[adejones]

I don't necessarily think it is worth going down the legal route because in all fairness, I don't think they're currently as successful as my service is proving to be hence their desperate tactics, I just didn't want to mention libellous behaviour in my response if it wasn't.

There will most certainly be a strongly worded email though.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Laugh & point out that they seem a bit desperate.

 

[Lisa Thomas]

Why stir the pot? You're possibly just going to make things worse.

I would be the bigger person and leave it as it is. Bad mouthing competitors never gets businesses very far imo.

 

[Gyumri]

It's not libel to claim that one's service is better than a competitor's. It's called advertising puff.

 

[BubbaWY]

Whether libel or not, its one of the hardest legal matters to take to court and extremely expensive - I think only the High Court in London hear defamation cases and you have to prove how what has been said has economically affected you. If bothering you so much, get a solicitor to send a strongly worded letter, but the other side will probably know any threat of court would be futile.

 

[Newchodge]

Whether libel or not, its one of the hardest legal matters to take to court and extremely expensive - I think only the High Court in London hear defamation cases and you have to prove how what has been said has economically affected you. If bothering you so much, get a solicitor to send a strongly worded letter, but the other side will probably know any threat of court would be futile.

Also, I think you can only libel a person, not a business.

 

[DontAsk]

It's not libel to claim that one's service is better than a competitor's. It's called advertising puff.

Subject to Newchodge's comment, it's not simple advertising puff to tell lies, which was the gist of the OP.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

When I worked in sales for Yellow Pages an insurance company who'd mistakenly been left out of the directory claimed huge losses, said they were likely to face bankruptcy etc.,

We carried the newspaper clippings and used them as testimonials to show how important the directory was.

If you take legal action against the protagonist they could easily say 'look how upset they are with us telling the truth'.

 

[eteb3]

you can only libel a person, not a business.

If the business is a legal person it can be libelled. A mosque committee case established in the last ?15 years or so that unincorporated associations can’t be, because they’re not persons (as any fule kno, but the question was whether libel law was expansive enough to include them: no, it is not). The same would presumably apply in the case of a partnership libelled in the business name, but I’m less sure about that.

The test is different for companies, because you can’t hurt their social standing (in the relevant sense, says the law): has the company suffered serious financial loss?

 

[Michael Loveridge]

A business can be libelled, but the appropriate claim here would not be for libel but for ‘malicious falsehood’. Where someone has deliberately lied and you have suffered loss as a result you can recover damages.

A suitable letter threatening such action would probably be enough to stop it.

 

[eteb3]

‘malicious falsehood’

Which is a different cause of action to libel? Or the same?

 

[Michael Loveridge]

Different - libel needs to be defamatory, whereas malicious falsehood doesn’t.

 

[WaveJumper]

Other than the debate on "is it isn't" its already been mentioned unless you have very deep pockets I would move

 

[ethical PR]

Good morning

I have been made aware by a new customer that a competitor of mine has made some untrue claims to them in the hope that they would terminate their plans to switch provider and stay with them, the claims are regarding pricing and also that customers have left me to pay a higher price for their service because they're so much better (although I can prove that none of my ex-customers are with my competitor, I have already checked).

Is this libel? I am forming a response to their email.

Thanks.

You say libel so presume you have evidence in writing ?