False Or Misleading Statements That Discredit A Competitor

A recent decision of the Federal Court considered an assertion of patent infringement that had been made to the defendant's customer.

The Facts

The plaintiff was the licensee of a patent and an industrial design. Both the patent and the design related to an expandable garden hose made up of an inner flexible, stretchable hose encased in an outer fabric hose. The hose was quite compact when no water pressure was applied but under pressure the inner hose stretched only to be constrained by the length of the outer fabric. The expandable hose product was marketed in Canada under the name XHOSE.

The defendant also sells hoses in Canada including an expandable hose marketed under the trademark POCKETHOSE.