Supreme Court Judge Rejects Telus’ Complaint Against Bell Mobility Ads

Press Release - March 27, 2007

The B.C. Supreme Court has rejected Telus’ application for an injunction against a potentially “misleading” ad campaign by Bell Mobility.

Bell, which rents access to Telus Mobility’s cellular facilities in most parts of Alberta and British Columbia, has described its services as being “on the most powerful network in Western Canada.”

Although Telus does not dispute this claim, it objected to the ads on the grounds that they implied Bell owned the network. In reality, Bell owns some facilities in major urban centers, but has little or no presence of its own in rural parts of Canada’s westernmost provinces.

Judge Arne Silverman sided with Bell in this dispute, ruling that the ads are literally true, since they describe Bell as being “on” the most powerful network, but do not address the issue of ownership.

This isn’t the first time Bell and Telus have found themselves at opposite ends of a courtroom over advertising ethics. Bell filed for an injunction against its western rival’s promotion tactics in December, when flexible share plans were advertised as being “only from Telus,” even though Bell offered a comparable product. This attempt was also unsuccessful.