Canadian court rules neither Bell nor Rogers can make “most reliable network” claim

It’s a common practice for legal teams to scrutinize each advertisement or marketing campaign to avoid making statements that could lead to lawsuits. However, it’s difficult to recall a time when lawyers for phone companies in the United States and Canada have had such a heavy workload in the mobile phone wars.

In recent weeks, cellular companies in the U.S. and Canada have engaged in a round of back-and-fourths about network claims and “misleading” advertisements. The most recent battle was settled yesterday when a Canadian court ruled that Bell Mobility can no longer advertise itself as the country’s “Most reliable network.” Rival carrier Rogers filed the suit to block Bell’s claims because its new HSPA network is untested and relatively unused. Judges sided with Rogers and forced Bell to stop making the claim, meaning Canada no longer has a “most reliable network.”

The legal wrangling first started after TELUS sued Rogers for calling itself “Canada’s Most Reliable Network” with data speeds twice as fast as its domestic competitors. The only problem with those claims is that after TELUS and Bell joined together to form a 21Mbps HSPA network last month, Roger’s network is no longer providing Canada’s fastest speeds or as much coverage. TELUS sued Rogers to block all ads that make any reference to being more reliable or faster, and a British Columbia Supreme Court granted a temporary injunction. In turn, Rogers sued Bell to block it from making similar claims, and a judge once again ruled against the “most reliable network” of the moment.

Meanwhile, even TELUS considered legal action against Bell because of the reliability claims on the network that they share. It seems no one in Canada will be able to call themselves fast or reliable at this rate.

Read [Vancouver Sun]