defamation
Could a phrase &quot;Don&#39;t buy from X&quot; with indirectly implied material be considered defamatory?
<p>Company A is doing an aggressive marketing strategy to undermine competition by saying they are better due to such and such factors.</p>
<p>Below such a remark they said, &quot;Don't buy from Company X&quot;</p>
<p>Company A obviously was smart enough not to make any false claims but anyone that reads the marketing material would indirectly have a false picture about company X.</p>
<p>Could company X make a successful defamation lawsuit against company A?</p>

<blockquote>
<p>Could a phrase &quot;Don't buy from X&quot; with indirectly implied material be considered defamatory?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>No. The phrase is only an order, wish, or instruction, which is different from making a direct or veiled <em>statement of fact</em>. Even in jurisdictions where a statement of opinion could be actionable, a stated wish of that sort cannot be construed as defamatory.</p>
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<p>anyone that reads the marketing material would indirectly have a false picture about company X.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It depends on the contents of the marketing material, on which you did not elaborate. Persuading the customers on the basis of truthful representations as to why X's product is better than A's does not mean that people have a false image about X.</p>
<p>The context and exact wording of someone's statements could amount to omitting and/or juxtaposing facts in a way that conveys some falsity, but your description gives no indications of that being the case here.</p>

<p>in <a href="/questions/tagged/germany" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;germany&#39;" rel="tag">germany</a> that sheme was totally illegal as <em>comparing advertisement</em> until <a href="https://www.offenbach.ihk.de/recht-und-steuern/unternehmensrecht/wettbewerbsrecht-und-werbung/vergleichende-werbung/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">1st September 2000</a> and since then is <strong>severely</strong> limited under <a href="https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/uwg_2004/__6.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">§6 UWG</a> (law against unfair competition):</p>
<ul>
<li>You are only allowed to compare items of <em>the very same kind</em>. For example &quot;Widget A is 20% cheaper in my store than everywhere else!&quot; is allowed but &quot;Widget B is the cheapest of all Widgets!&quot; as you compare different kinds (even if they were all TVs - different brand? Then are different kinds!)</li>
<li>You are only allowed to use <em>relevant</em> and <em>objective</em> factors. Taste is not objective and thus you can not say &quot;Our Burgers taste better&quot; is banned, just as much as &quot;Our Widgets have one more (unnecessary) feature&quot;</li>
<li>The advertisement results in the two Widgets being confused for one another. So &quot;Widget A, the Next Step from Widget B&quot; is banned.</li>
<li>Using the fame of another brand is illegal. So saying &quot;Widget A, as good as [famous Widget B]&quot; is not allowed.</li>
<li>Comparing your wares <em>to another brands</em> wares and reducing ther value. So saying &quot;Widget A is better than Widget B&quot; is banned. however it <em>is</em> allowed to say &quot;Widget A is better than <strong>generic</strong> Widget&quot; as long as generic widget has no brand whatsoever.</li>
<li>Claiming a widget as an imitation of another. You may not say &quot;Widget A, our take on Widget B&quot; or &quot;Widget B copies our Widget A&quot;.</li>
</ul>
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<p>&quot;Don't buy Widget B, buy Widget A&quot; is meeting at least one but might meet most of those bans in Germany. The only Item that might be hard to make a case for is that ad creating market confusion, as they try their darndest to set yourself apar.</p>
