MLM firm found to have defamed/slandered rival

Straits Times
K.C. Vijayan, Law Correspondent

THEY ran down their main rival's products at two sales talks.

Now, the company, Meridian Life International, and its two employees have been found to have slandered its competitor WBG Network.

Both multi-level marketing firms sell a common range of health products containing a sub-species of the chlorella family of algae.

WBG has been around for 11 years and now has an annual turnover of about $45 million. Meridian is a relative newcomer, having just started in 2004.

The two employees of Meridian, Mr Lim Jit Shyan and Mr Ivan Tan, had been distributing the products, known as the Hunza range, for WBG until 2003, when they both left the firm.

Two years later, both men joined Meridian, which had obtained a licence from the Taiwanese supplier to distribute the products here.

At a sales talk on Meridian's premises on March 30, 2006, both made comments about their former company's products which Justice Andrew Ang ruled were defamatory.

Among other things, they told their audience that WBG's products no longer contained a vital ingredient and that WBG misrepresented its products.

Two days later, the two men repeated some of their remarks at another sales talk.

Among the audience at both talks was Mr Bruce Cai Qing - an active distributor for WBG since August 2002.

In this rare commercial defamation suit, both sides agreed at the start that Meridian would accept liability as well if the allegations against its two employees were proven.

It is not known if they are still working for the company.

Justice Ang ordered a separate hearing to assess the damages to be awarded, which will not be the $12 million that WBG, represented by lawyer Gabriel Peter, is seeking. The judge said WBG's evidence for its losses would support a claim of $8 million 'at best'.

Justice Ang noted that the second presentation was a covert sting operation set up by WBG to entrap Meridian, unlike the first, which might be a 'typical MLM sales' pitch.

The judge noted that Ms Sharon Ong, who attended the second session, admitted WBG employed her to record the remarks of Mr Lim and Mr Tan. Her role was to 'persistently' ask them suggestive questions to 'precipitate the making of defamatory remarks', he added.

Source: Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Permission required for reproduction.

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Do it right and set a good example by disseminating neutral information about rival MLM companies to your downlines. By doing so, you can gain respect from your fellow peers as well.