Yellow pages go to court
PKT claims that the competitor, a TP SA subsidiary, has repeatedly violated the rules of fair competition on the directories market - worth an estimated zł.300 million a year. TP DITel, the lawsuit alleges, has repeatedly encouraged PKT clients to cancel advertising contracts, as well as using competitors' products during sales calls and misrepresenting themselves as PKT employees. The lawsuit, said to be based on more than 100 complaints by PKT clients, also alleges that TP DITel employees made untrue statements about the competitor.
"They have said that we are in bankruptcy, that we are in liquidation and that we will not be publishing any more directories," says Robert J. Mulcahy, president of the board at PKT. He goes on to add that the company, which boasts a third of the market and occupies second place ahead of TP DITel is, "in a healthy condition," and has been posting profits.
TP DITel rejects the accusations wholesale, saying that its sales representatives are easily identifiable and could not possibly make plausible claims to represent another company.
"Our usage increased 100 percent last year and we interpret PKT's claims as a means of fighting for the market share they are losing," says Żaneta Gaca, marketing director at TP DITel. "There is no truth to these claims whatsoever," she adds.
Iwona Wardzyńska-Kaźmierczak, public relations manager at Eniro - publisher of market leader Panorama Firm - says that the company has not directly come across large scale unfair competition.
"If, however, there are documented cases affecting our competitor, that is an extremely worrying development," she says.
It is not the first time that TP SA subsidiaries have been accused of unfair competition. In an interview for the Business Journal last year, Call Center Poland Chief Executive Jan Motz described the means used by another TP SA-controlled firm to bite into market share as, "having nothing to do with the free market." He also said that in the existing regulatory and legal climate, it is "basically useless," to take such cases to court.
PKT's Mulcahy says he does not expect the case to be heard in court any time soon, though he hopes that media pressure would serve to rein in the competitor's "outrageous" practices. Failing that, he says, the company will take further steps. A prolonged legal battle is likely.
"They have said that we are in bankruptcy, that we are in liquidation and that we will not be publishing any more directories," says Robert J. Mulcahy, president of the board at PKT. He goes on to add that the company, which boasts a third of the market and occupies second place ahead of TP DITel is, "in a healthy condition," and has been posting profits.
TP DITel rejects the accusations wholesale, saying that its sales representatives are easily identifiable and could not possibly make plausible claims to represent another company.
"Our usage increased 100 percent last year and we interpret PKT's claims as a means of fighting for the market share they are losing," says Żaneta Gaca, marketing director at TP DITel. "There is no truth to these claims whatsoever," she adds.
Iwona Wardzyńska-Kaźmierczak, public relations manager at Eniro - publisher of market leader Panorama Firm - says that the company has not directly come across large scale unfair competition.
"If, however, there are documented cases affecting our competitor, that is an extremely worrying development," she says.
It is not the first time that TP SA subsidiaries have been accused of unfair competition. In an interview for the Business Journal last year, Call Center Poland Chief Executive Jan Motz described the means used by another TP SA-controlled firm to bite into market share as, "having nothing to do with the free market." He also said that in the existing regulatory and legal climate, it is "basically useless," to take such cases to court.
PKT's Mulcahy says he does not expect the case to be heard in court any time soon, though he hopes that media pressure would serve to rein in the competitor's "outrageous" practices. Failing that, he says, the company will take further steps. A prolonged legal battle is likely.
