Disparagement of a competitor through false statements

This clause targets an enterprise that erodes customer confidence in a competitor by disseminating false information. The information may concern the competitor itself, its goods, or its business methods. What matters is that the assertion is false and that it steers customers away from the competitor. For example, two companies manufacture pharmaceuticals. Company A writes to retailers claiming that a state laboratory has tested the competitor's product and found its efficacy to be low. Company A's sales team repeats the same claims at its booth at an international trade fair: the competitor's goods are worthless, and the authorities will soon withdraw them from the market. Nothing has been copied, and no mark has been misused. Yet customers hear these assertions from someone who appears well-informed, and they begin to doubt the quality of the product.