Rogers Communications Inc. RCI.B-T will advertise itself as “Canada's reliable network,” after a B.C. appeal court upheld a decision to force the company to drop the word “most” from its two-year-old slogan.
The B.C. Court of Appeal ruling Friday rejected Rogers' bid to overturn a Nov. 24 injunction against any advertising that suggests without qualification that it has the most reliable network in Canada.
Telus Corp. T-T challenged Rogers's claims after the Vancouver-based company and Bell Canada upgraded their own networks.
“We are disappointed, but respect the legal process and are complying with the decision,” Rogers spokeswoman Odette Coleman said Friday.
The judge agreed with Telus's argument that the new networks put in place last month have made it impossible for Rogers to claim superiority.
A written verdict including the court's reasons is not expected until January.
Telus spokesman Shawn Hall said when the written decision is released the company will determine if it will seek damages from the claims, which Telus argued, put the company at a competitive disadvantage.
“Our primary interest in all of this was having misleading and damaging statements being made by Rogers removed from the marketplace as soon as possible,” Mr. Hall said.
Justice Christopher Grauer ordered Rogers to remove its television, radio and newspaper ads, flyers, posters and other in-store promotional material on Dec. 3, with a final deadline to remove all of the ads by Dec. 18.
Ms. Coleman said the company is on track to full compliance by the deadline and have replaced the signs.
At a Rogers booth in Toronto's Eaton's Centre, there were no traces of the claim and at another downtown store a poster in the window advertised its “ultimate smartphones on Canada's reliable network.”
The legal wrangling, as well as a separate lawsuit between Rogers and Bell, reflect the competition that is beginning to emerge in the Canadian wireless market as the three companies compete to sell the Apple Inc. APPL-Q iPhone.
Rogers sued BCE Inc.'s Bell Canada and Bell Mobility Tuesday, in the battle over who can claim to have the fastest, largest or most reliable wireless network in Canada.
Mr. Hall said Telus, which advertises as Canada's largest network, continues to review Bell's claims as well.
Rogers filed a claim in B.C. Supreme Court in an attempt to force Bell to remove the ads in an injunction similar to the one imposed on Rogers. A hearing has not been set.
In the claim, Rogers said Bell cannot promote its network as being the largest, because it is shared with Telus, and that data suggesting Bell is the most reliable and fastest is misleading because it was compiled before the network launched last month.
“Even Telus and the courts have recognized that our network is more reliable than the network currently being used by the vast majority of our competitors' customers,” Rogers' Ms. Coleman said.
“And, we're confident that once they have customers on their new network, we will demonstrate through rigorous testing that we are more reliable.”
