Legal Definitions - slander of goods

Slander of goods refers to the act of making false and damaging statements about another person's products, services, or business, which causes them financial loss. It is a specific type of commercial disparagement where untrue statements specifically target the quality, safety, effectiveness, or value of goods or services, leading potential customers to avoid purchasing them. For a claim of slander of goods to be successful, the statements must be proven false, communicated to others, made with malicious intent or reckless disregard for the truth, and directly cause measurable financial harm to the owner of the goods or services.

• Example 1: A competitor in the organic food market launches an advertising campaign falsely claiming that a rival's popular "all-natural" granola bars contain harmful artificial sweeteners, even though the rival's product is certified organic and free of such ingredients. Following this campaign, the rival company experiences a significant drop in sales for its granola bars.

  Explanation: The competitor made false statements about the ingredients and quality of the rival's granola bars (the "goods"). These statements were published through an advertising campaign and directly caused financial harm (lost sales) to the rival company, illustrating slander of goods.

• Example 2: A disgruntled former employee of a high-end furniture manufacturer posts numerous online reviews and social media comments falsely alleging that the company uses cheap, unstable wood and toxic finishes in its products, despite the company's reputation for craftsmanship and use of sustainable, non-toxic materials. As a result, several large retail chains cancel their orders, and individual customer inquiries decline sharply.

  Explanation: The former employee spread false information about the quality and safety of the furniture (the "goods") produced by the manufacturer. These statements were published online, damaging the company's reputation and leading to a measurable financial loss through canceled orders and reduced sales, which constitutes slander of goods.

• Example 3: A rival software development firm anonymously publishes a blog post asserting that a competitor's newly released project management software is riddled with critical bugs that frequently corrupt user data, when in reality, the software has undergone extensive testing and is highly stable. This false information causes many potential corporate clients to choose the rival's software instead, leading to substantial lost revenue for the competitor.

  Explanation: The rival firm made false and damaging claims about the functionality and reliability of the competitor's software (the "goods"). These claims were published online, directly influencing potential customers' purchasing decisions and causing significant financial harm to the competitor, thereby demonstrating slander of goods.